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Another tough series for the Tigers as they were swept by the Cardinals over the weekend, bringing their record to 24-12 (8-10 ACC). The Tigers have not fared particularly well on the road in the ACC play this season with a record of 3-9 thus far, with the only series win coming against Wake Forest. Following this series, the Tigers have dropped to 5th in the Atlantic division and 10th overall in the conference. On the flip side, there is still plenty of baseball left to be played this season and this team has given us no reason to believe they won't bounce back to form.
Game 1
The Cardinals jumped on Clate Schmidt early, scoring 3 runs on 4 hits in the first inning, to take a quick 3-0 lead. The Tigers did came back with a run of their own in the top of the second after Wilson tripled and was brought home on a Chris Williams sacrifice fly to center field, cutting the lead to 3-1. But that was really the closest this game would be as the Cards added 3 more runs in the 3rd and continued to pour it on in route to a 15-2 win on 20 hits. The Tigers offense only manufactured 2 hits all game.
Louisville starter Brendan McKay had another solid performance tossing 7.0 innings only allowing 2 hits and 2 runs to improve his record to 7-1 on the season. Schmidt was credited with the loss for Tigers after allowing 5 runs in 2.1 innings pitched, bringing his record to 5-2 on the season.
Game 2
Missed opportunities and errors would be the story line of game 2 for the Tigers, leaving 9 runners on base and committing two errors leading to two Cardinals runs. The Tigers managed 11 hits in the game but only could manufacture two runs. Clemson jumped out to the early 1-0 lead, scoring a run in the 3rd via Chris Okey's single through the left side scoring Bryant from second. Louisville came right back in the bottom half of the inning to score 2 runs on 3 hits and 1 error by the Tigers, taking a 2-1 lead. The Tigers never could regain the lead as Louisville added two more runs in the 5th and 7th. Clemson did add another run of its own in the 7th, from KJ Bryant's single scoring Greene from third, but it was not near enough as the Cards cruised to 7-2 victory over the Tigers.
Drew Harrington earned the win, throwing 6.1 innings only allow 2 runs, bringing his record to 8-1 on the season. Charlie Barnes was given the loss, even though he pitched a quality game going 6.1 innings and only giving up 3 earned runs, bringing his record to 3-4 on the season.
Game 3
The Tigers jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the 1st inning on 2 hits and 1 error by Louisville. Beer recorded his first RBI of the series with a single to right field, scoring Pinder from third. The Cards came back in the bottom half to chip into the Tigers lead scoring 1 run on 2 hits and 1 error by the Tigers. Louisville tied the game in the 2nd at 3-3 scoring 2 runs on 2 hits with another Tigers error. After the Cards took the lead 4-3 in the 3rd, the Tigers came back with 2 runs on their own in the 5th. The game continued to go back and forth between the Tigers and Cards all the way til the end. The Tigers rallied to tie the game at 8-8 in the 8th with 2 runs on 2 hits and a Louisville error, but Clemson wasn't able add any runs in the 9th and were ultimately beaten on a walk out ground-rule double by Louisville's Corey Ray to complete the sweep of the Tigers.
Shane Hummel earned the win after pitching a flawless 9th inning, improving to 2-0 on the season. Pat Krall was given his first loss of the season after giving up 4 runs (2 earned) in 4.1 innings pitching, bringing him to 5-1 on the season.
The Tigers will be back in action Tuesday at 6:30 (ESPN3) against the Georgia Bulldogs for the first of a 13 game home stand.