Jarren Purify hit a solo home run in the seventh to cut the deficit to one, then singled through the right side an inning later to score the go-ahead run as Clemson beat Boston College 4-3 Sunday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, taking the series finale from a team with 35 wins and one of the better ACC records in the country.
For six innings, this had all the markings of a loss. Boston College scored in three of the first six frames, worked counts all afternoon, and made Aidan Knaak grind for every out. A fielding error at third handed them a run in the first. Gunnar Johnson singled through the middle in the third to score Julio Solier again. Then Colin Larson put one down the right-field line in the sixth to push it to 3-1. The Eagles looked exactly like the 17-10 ACC team they are. Clemson had five hits and nothing to show for any of them.
Then Purify changed everything.
His shot to left in the seventh, a 3-2 pitch from Soares, was his third home run of the year. One swing. Suddenly it was a game. The crowd of 4,334 had a reason to care again.
The eighth is where it ended. Jackson Moore, pinch hitting for Talan Bell, singled through the right side to lead off. Nate Savoie followed with a hit to right center. Luke Gaffney laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners, and Jacob Jarrell drew an intentional walk to load the bases. Tryston McCladdie punched a 1-0 pitch the other way, and Moore scored, though Savoie got gunned down at the plate on the relay from right field. One out, runners on the corners, Purify up. He singled through the right side again. Jacob Jarrell scored. Clemson led.
Purify went 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Nobody else had more than two hits. He tied it, then won it.
Hayden Simmerson handled the final two innings and was clean about it. He walked Wang with two outs in the ninth but struck out Mainolfi and got Johnson looking to end the game. Two frames, three strikeouts, one walk. The sophomore right-hander picked up his first win of the season (1-1) and earned every bit of it.
Knaak went 5.1 innings on 99 pitches, giving up eight hits and three earned runs while fanning eight. Boston College was patient, worked counts, and put the ball in play and that’s the formula against him when he doesn’t have his sharpest stuff. He gave up hits but competed through every inning he was out there. He left with two on and Clemson trailing 3-1, and Ariston Veasey had to strand that inherited runner to keep it a two-run game. Veasey did. That doesn’t always happen, and without it the comeback math in the eighth looks a lot harder.
Buried in Knaak’s eight strikeouts: No. 300 of his Clemson career. That puts him among the most prolific strikeout pitchers in program history. It happened on a Sunday afternoon with no ceremony attached to it, no one stopping the game, no real acknowledgment in the moment. He walked off the mound without the win. But 300 is 300, and it deserves to be recognized.
This wasn’t clean. Clemson left five on base, went 2-for-5 with runners in scoring position, and needed a pinch hitter to spark the decisive rally.
But they won. Down two runs heading into the seventh, in the last home game of the regular season, against one of the better teams in the ACC. At 28-20 and 8-16 in the conference, Clemson’s NCAA Tournament hopes are hanging by a thread. Taking two of three this weekend doesn’t guarantee anything. But it’s exactly the kind of result that keeps the conversation alive.
Saturday’s 14-4 rout was about firepower. Sunday required something different. Clemson had to scratch for every run, piece together a rally with a pinch hitter leading off, and trust a sophomore reliever to close it out. That’s not a pretty win. But heading into a road-only finish, it might be the more useful one.
The loss went to Soares (1-2), who gave up seven hits and three earned runs across 3.2 innings of relief.
After dropping the series opener Friday, Clemson won back-to-back to take two of three. The Tigers are back in action Tuesday at Coastal Carolina at 6 p.m., before returning home next weekend to host Florida State in their final series at DKS..
