Clemson Baseball Drops 2 of 3 to Georgia Tech

Friday night, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets got off to a big start by getting a 4-2 win over our Clemson Tigers. Friday night starter Jonathan King was able to limit the Tigers to two runs on four hits, while closer Zach Ryan came in the last two innings to allow no hits, no runs, and strike out 2 batters. Clemson starter Matthew Crownover went seven innings, giving up five hits and two runs while striking out nine. Crownover deserved the win (full article on him coming on Monday), but reliever Taylor Vetzel had a rough eighth inning, giving up 2 runs on two hits and two errors by the Tiger defense. That was all the Jackets needed to claim game one.

In game two, Clemson got payback on a huge day by shortstop Eli White. White went 3-4, putting up four RBI's for Clemson. Two of those runs came off home runs, for which Clemson had three on the day. Once the dust settled, Clemson came away with an 11-3 win. Zach Erwin went for seven innings, giving up seven hits and three runs. Clate Schmidt came in to close, giving up only one hit and no runs.

Game three was a back and fourth contest. GT jumped out to an early lead, only to surrender it later. By the end of the ninth, the score was 3-3, sending the game into extra innings. In the tenth, with Steven Duggar on first, Tyler Krieger was ruled to have been hit by a pitch. From the replays, it was hard to tell if the inside pitch actually made contact with him, but he was awarded the base. Reed Rohlman came in to single, scoring Duggar to give Clemson the 4-3 lead. That was all Clemson would get in the tenth. Clate Schmidt was able to put away the first two Jackets in the bottom of the inning, but then allowed two base runners. An outfield single from GT tied the game for GT, and then Ryan Peurifoy hit the walk off single that was just out of the reach of a diving Tyler Krieger.

After losing the series to Georgia Tech, Clemson falls to 23-21, with an 12-11 ACC mark, while the Jackets are now 26-17, with an ACC record of 11-13. The Tigers can't let this loss bother them for two long as fourth ranked Louisville comes to town after final exams end. The first game of that series will be at 1:00 on Saturday, and will be broadcasted on RSN.