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Friday, Clemson 8-2
The Tigers opened up offensively in the first inning with Boulware's 7th HR on WF Friday night and every starter had at least 1 hit in the game, while Daniel Gossett pitched 6 solid innings to get his 5th win of the season.
Clemson jumped up in the first with the HR, followed by 2 more runs in the 2nd on two triples by Duggar and Costigan and a throwing error. We added lone runs in the 4th and 5th before putting 3 across the plate in the 6th and putting it out of reach for Wake Forest.
Tyler Krieger led off the 6th with a walk and advanced to second on a Slaton single. Krieger scored on a Tom Brittle single following that. After a balk scored Slaton, Brittle later scored on a Duggar Sac Fly to CF.
Gossett was solid but not exactly spectacular, so this game didn't seem in hand until the 3-spot in the bottom of the 6th. He seemed to be constantly working from the stretch and getting out of problems, leaving the bases jammed in the top of the 6th. He only had one 1-2-3 inning, the 4th. The curve was nasty, both for the WF batters and Garrett Boulware, as evidenced by Goose's 9th and 10th WPs of the season.
Patrick Andrews and Matt Campbell shut them down at the plate over the next 3 hitless innings.
Saturday - Clemson 1-0
It was nice to see Tiger Field as full as it was on Saturday night after the spring game, and those of us in attendance got to see a great pitching duel. Both starters pitched great, and both pens were very good as well.
Matt Crownover (5-0) started and went 5 1/3, allowing 5 hits and 3 walks with 4 Ks while still on a pitch count. Jon Meyer finished the 6th, while Andrews and Firth handled WF hitters over the next 3 innings, allowing 1 hit.
WF starter Justin Van Grouw was hurt by his defense when he allowed the only run of the game. In the 5th, Steven Duggar reached on an error by Blair, his 13th of the season at SS. Duggar advanced on a Costigan grounder, and 3rd on a McGibbon grounder to 2nd before Krieger singled in Duggar to make it 1-0. That was it.
Kennedy and Krieger both went 2-for-3, and the only other Tiger with a hit was Wilkerson.
Sunday - Clemson 6-4
The Demon Deacons battled back from a 2-0 deficit in the 1st and 4-2 deficit to tie the score each time, including two runs on Pat Blair's two-out single in the seventh inning. Neither team could plate a go-ahead run in the eighth, ninth, or 10th innings, then Duggar came through with his third hit along with his third and fourth RBIs of the game on his game-ending long ball in the 11th inning.
Clate Schmidt started and went 6 1/3, allowing 7 hits and 3 earned runs, with 3 walks and 2 Ks. He wasn't on top of his game and he hasn't shown me that he can get back to that SC form except for an inning or two here and there.
Clemson left 13 on base but couldnt get anyone even on the bases against reliever Jack Fischer. Over his 5 1/3, Clemson managed just 2 hits and 2 walks, and couldn't get the leadoff batter on base to set anything up. As soon as we got him out of there for Connor Kaden, the game went right to us.
Steve Wilkerson and Duggar both went 3-for-5, while Slaton went 2-for-5 and Kennedy 2-for-6. Clemson improved to 12-6 in the ACC with a trip to Coral Gables next week.