Beer Fuels Clemson’s Rout of Sparty

While Seth Beer may have had a slow start to the 2017 season, it looks like it’s safe to say the old Beer is back and ready to crush the ball. It’s also apparent that he loves playing at Greenville’s Flour Field, where the Tigers defeated the Michigan State Spartans 9-2 Wednesday night. Heading into the 5th inning, the Tigers held a 3-1 lead that came from catcher Chris Williams ripping a 2 RBI double and then scoring from 3rd on a double play in the 2nd inning. With one out, Michigan State’s Walter Borkovich would walk 3 straight batters to load the bases. Keegan Baar was brought in to pitch, and promptly hit DH Reed Rohlman to score Jordan Greene from 3rd. Then brought up Seth Beer, who crushed a long grand slam to right field, bringing the score to 8-1. It’s worth noting, just like on his game tying homer against South Carolina on Sunday, that Beer faced a 3-2 count before going yard. The Tigers would add another run in the bottom of the 8th as KJ Bryant stole home on a double steal with Jordan Greene.

Michigan State out hit the Tigers 8-7 but were only able to muster up 1 more run on a passed ball in the 7th. Clemson starting pitcher Tyler Jackson went 6.1 innings and struck out 9 Spartans. Jackson gave up 7 hits, but only allowed 1 earned run. Jackson gets the win and moves to 2-1 on the season. State starter Joe Mockbee earned his first loss of the season, dropping to 3-1. Mockbee went 3 innings, giving up 3 hits, 3 earned runs, and striking out 3 Tigers.

The win moves the Tigers to 9-3 on the year. Clemson returns to Doug Kingsmore Friday to kickoff a weekend series with conference foe Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish bring in a 3-8 record, and just finished a 4 game stint in the USA Baseball-Irish classic in Cary, NC where they went 2-2. First pitch Friday is 6:30 and the game can be seen through ACC Network Extra. The Spartans drop to 9-2. During their 4 game set in Greenville, they went 3-1, only losing to the Tigers. Michigan State will continue its Palmetto State trip with a 3 game weekend series in Columbia with South Carolina. Friday night’s first pitch is at 7:00 and the game can be seen on SEC Network Plus.