Nate Savoie launched a grand slam to center field in the bottom of the seventh Sunday and the 10-run rule kicked in. No. 10 Clemson 16, La Salle 3. Four-game sweep complete at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
That’s three run-rule wins in four games against the Explorers. The only game that went the full nine was Thursday’s opener, and even that one wasn’t particularly close.
Clemson is 15-1 now. Seven straight wins since the lone loss to South Carolina. And Sunday’s game, honestly, was over well before Savoie stepped up in the seventh.
Savoie went 3-for-3. Six RBI. Two doubles. The grand slam. Got plunked twice on top of all that. When the bases loaded up in the seventh with Clemson baseball already ahead by a comfortable margin, he worked the count to 3-1 and didn’t miss. The ball traveled 409 feet off the bat at 105 mph, clearing the green batter’s eye in dead center. The 4,188 at Doug Kingsmore went home happy on a Sunday afternoon.
It was just the fourth walk-off grand slam in Clemson baseball history. Tyler Colvin did it against Oral Roberts in 2006. Jeff Schaus did it against Coastal Carolina in 2009. Billy Amick did it against Georgia State in 2023. Now Savoie.
But here’s the thing. Savoie wasn’t even the best hitter in his own lineup Sunday.
Jarren Purify went 3-for-3 too. Two home runs. Four RBI. Scored four times. Stole two bases. Had two sac flies. Saturday’s doubleheader was already one of the best individual performances of the season. Sunday might have topped it. Over the final three games of this series, Purify reached base almost every time he came to the plate and created chaos on the basepaths whenever he got on.
Those two guys combined for 10 of Clemson’s 15 RBI. Just Purify and Savoie. Ten of fifteen.
And they had plenty of help. Tryston McCladdie went 3-for-5 with two RBI and scored twice. Ty Dalley doubled and drove in a pair. Jay Dillard ripped two doubles. Jason Fultz Jr. never got an official at-bat because he walked three times, but he scored three runs anyway. Fourteen hits as a team, six walks drawn, three hit batters. Clemson put 23 runners on base in 39 plate appearances.
Oh, and the Tigers struck out twice. Total. In 30 at-bats. Two strikeouts against three different La Salle arms. That’s not a normal number.
Now the pitching. It didn’t start clean. Talan Bell gave up three runs on three hits with three walks in two innings. Chase Swain got him for a solo homer in the first. Austin Rhue tagged him for a two-run shot in the second. Just like that it was 3-2 La Salle and the Explorers looked like they had Bell’s number.
Then Dion Brown walked in from the pen.
The No. 93 sophomore threw three scoreless innings. One hit allowed. Four strikeouts. He came into the game with runners on and Clemson behind, which is about as tough a spot as a reliever can draw. Didn’t matter. Brown retired eight of the 11 batters he saw and nobody got past first base against him. By the time he handed the ball off after the fifth, Clemson led 12-3. The game he inherited and the game he left behind looked nothing alike.
Brendon Bennett came in for the sixth and struck out all three guys he faced. Joe Allen got the save in the seventh, punching out two before Savoie ended it with the slam. Clemson’s bullpen: five innings, one hit, nine strikeouts. That’ll get it done.
La Salle (8-6) used three pitchers and none of them fared well. Ryan Brown took the loss after giving up four runs in two innings. Hudson Narke allowed eight runs in 2.2 innings. Josh Beck gave up four more in 1.1. The Explorers committed two errors.
Four games, four wins, three run rules. None of the four were competitive past the early innings. Clemson’s seven-game winning streak now includes a sweep of the South Carolina series and this La Salle four-game set. The Tigers haven’t lost since that Friday night in Columbia.
Georgia Southern is next for Clemson baseball. Tuesday, 6:30 p.m., neutral site in North Augusta, S.C. First game away from Doug Kingsmore since the South Carolina trip and the first real midweek test since this streak got rolling.
