The No. 11 Clemson Tigers kept their undefeated record at home this past Wednesday afternoon, routing the Presbyterian Blue Hose’s 11-2.
This victory marked a milestone for head coach Erik Bakich, leaving the dugout today with 100 wins as Clemson’s coach in his third year with the historic program.
“I’m hell-bent on getting Clemson our first National Championship, and that’s the only stat that matters, is getting Championships and helping take this program to places it’s never been.”
Erik Bakich
Cam Cannarella was out of the lineup for the Tigers (12-1) as the team chose to rest him against the low-major opponent. Presbyterian was the same team Cannarella hurt his shoulder against last season, leading to a major surgery in the off-season.
“We’ve been doing this rotation of random guys sitting out all the time… With these double mid-week [games], it’s a good opportunity to give guys rest and more importantly get other guys in the game who deserve it and that have worked just as hard as well. It’s a luxury item, maybe we haven’t had this much depth in previous years… so far everyone in the starting lineup has sat out at least one time, if not two times or more.
Erik Bakich
With their star player out, it left some wiggle room for the Blue Hose’s (7-7) to make some noise and steal an upset win.
The game started stale, but after RHP Chance Fitzgerald let up a two-run home run — his second of the season — in the fourth inning, giving Presbyterian a 2-0 lead heading into the fifth, the game’s speed picked up quickly.
While the game had some fans sweating, Clemson was able to pull out of their offensive slump with a three-run fifth inning that helped shift the game’s momentum.
Dominic Listi started the rally with a double down the first base line, scoring Jack Crighton and advancing McCladdie to third. To score McCladdie and tie the score at two runs each, Jarren Purify took to the plate and hit a perfect sacrifice fly to right field. Josh Paino, a first-year transfer, followed up by singling to shortstop with bases loaded to give Clemson Baseball a 3-2 lead.
The Tigers would run away with the game from that point on, depleting Presbyterian’s morale after scoring two more runs from a fielding error. The Blue Hose pitchers continued to face woes, earning a run off a walk as well.
Purify continued to show off for the fans at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, smashing a triple that Presbyterian’s center fielder dropped to score three of his teammates. Luke Gaffney — who played behind the plate tonight — followed it up with a single through the left side of the field to give Clemson a late-game 10-2 lead.
Purify would finish the contest with four RBIs, three hits and one run in four at-bats. This brings the sophomore infielder to 14 hits, 12 RBIs and a .400 batting average on the season — second amongst his team.
Aside from the early two-run home run, Clemson’s pitchers continued to impress in this contest, recording seven hits, five strikeouts and two walks.
On the other hand, the Blue Hose’s fielding errors and pitching were their downfalls, utilizing eight different pitchers throughout the game while still allowing 12 hits, 11 runs (nine earned & two from fielding errors), six walks, and a balk through 175 pitches thrown.
Clemson outfielder Jack Crighton had a strong night against the Presbyterian bullpen, logging three hits and one run in five at-bats. The junior now posts a strong .350 batting average in only 20 at-bats on the season, along with four runs and a pair of RBIs.
Other notable accomplishments from Clemson players tonight were Hudson Lee recording his first two career strikeouts, TP Wentworth recording his first career strikeout, and Hideki Prather recording his first collegiate career hit.
“[Hideki] has been an unbelievable teammate this whole time. He’s a total glue guy, encourages in the dugout, always there for his teammates, supporting them. So for him to get in the game and have a battle like he did with two strikes and then fight his way to getting a base hit, his first collegiate hit. That was really cool.”
Erik Bakich
The Tigers will return to Doug Kingsmore on Friday at 4 p.m. EST. to start their first three-game home series of the season versus the Davidson Wildcats.
