Clemson Baseball Takes Series from #7 Florida State

Clemson opened up the series with an offensive explosion on Saturday afternoon to beat Florida State 10-3. The game, originally scheduled for 6:30, was moved up to 1:00 because of inclement weather. FSU held the Tigers hitless for the first three innings, but Seth Beer delivered a frozen rope single to right field to get the Tigers first hit on the board. Reed Rohlman followed it up with another single to get Beer to third, and then Weston Wilson came through with a 3 run home run in right center field to break the 0-0 tie. Florida State came back with 3 runs of their own in the top of the 5th, but after that it was all Tigers. After a lightening delay in the bottom of the 7th, Chris Okey put the finishing touches on a stellar victory. Leading 7-3, the Tiger catcher crushed a 3 run homer down the left field line to put Clemson up 10-3. Alex Eubanks got the win for Clemson, while Mike Compton, the first of 6 pitchers used by FSU, was credited with the loss.

Once again, the threat of inclement weather forced the game time to be moved up to 1:00 instead of 4:30 as originally scheduled. Chase Pinder got it started for Clemson scoring in the first inning off a Reed Rohlman single, but nothing much else would go the Tigers' way. A big 4 run 5th inning for the Noles was a key piece to their 11-2 win. Clemson gave up 13 hits on the day and committed 2 errors. Clate Schmidt was credited with the loss for the Tigers while Drew Carlton got the win for the Noles.

Game 3 once again involved a time change to avoid weather issues. Instead of the original 7:00 first pitch, the game started at 4:00, leading to a smaller crowd than planned. Florida State held a 3-1 lead before a 41 minute lightening delay in the top of the 4th. Things would turn around for Clemson after that, as Chase Pinder hit an RBI double in the 4th to score Weston Wilson and bring Clemson within 1 run of FSU. In the 5th, Seth Beer delivered a big single to score Chris Okey from second and tie the game up. Beer then was able to advance to second on a throwing error. A wild pitch allowed Beer to steal third, and Reed Rohlman delivered a long fly out to send Beer home and give Clemson the 4-3 lead. Beer struck again in the 8th by hitting a double to score Eli White and Chris Okey. Malik Gibson came in to run for Beer, and later scored on a 2 out Wilson single. Pat Krall finished up the Noles by striking out the last 2 batters in the top of the 9th to give Clemson the 7-3 win. Krall, who came in to relieve Alex Schnell in the third, got the win by pitching 7 innings and only giving up 3 hits. Tyler Holton got the loss for FSU. Clemson now 28-15 on the year, with a 11-13 ACC record. The Tigers will return to action Wednesday with a home game against Furman at 6:30. Clemson then gets back to conference play by hosting NC State in a 3 game weekend series, starting Friday night at 6:30.