Clemson Wins Series vs #17 Wake Forest

Clemson’s series with Wake Forest got out to a thrilling start on Friday night. Clemson took a nice 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first behind Seth Beer’s two run double and a pair of sac flies from Chris Williams and Rudy Cox. After Deacon CF Stuart Fairchild hit an RBI single in the third, first baseman Gavin Sheets knocked a two run homer to cut the lead to one. After the game was tied 5-5 in the sixth, Wake took a 7-5 lead with a two run eighth. Wake held the lead going into the bottom of the ninth, when Wake’s Griffin Roberts walked the bases loaded for Reed Rohlman. Rohlman hit a RBI single to cut the lead to one. Logan Davidson followed up with a sacrifice fly to left center to bring in Weston Jackson, tying the game. Roberts walked Seth Beer, loading the bases for Chris Williams. Williams worked the count to 3-2 before taking ball four to earn a walk and score Chase Pinder for the game winning run, giving the Tigers an 8-7 win.

Due to weather concerns, the final two games of the series were played as a double header on Saturday. In the first game of the two, Clemson’s offense kept rolling as the Tigers pounded the Demon Deacons 11-0. Chase Pinder went 2-4 and hit his first homer of the season with a two run shot in the seventh. Alex Eubanks threw a complete game shutout, giving up seven hits and striking out twelve on the day. He also allowed no walks.

Saturday’s second game went less than optimally as the Deacs capitalized on a big six run seventh inning to earn an 8-3 win in the series finale. However, Chase Pinder continued his big day by leading off the bottom of the seventh with his second home run of the day (and season). Logan Davidson also had a nice day, going 2-4 with a two run homer in the fifth. Starter Pat Krall went 6.1 innings and gave up three runs on five hits. Krall gets his first loss of the season and goes to 6-1 on the year.

At 16-5 in ACC, Clemson sits one game behind #2 Louisville in the Atlantic Division. After this weekend, Clemson, Louisville, #3 North Carolina have all clinched spots in the ACC Baseball tournament. UNC current leads the Coastal Division with a 16-5 conference record, which is four games better than second place Virginia. Clemson hosts College of Charleston Tuesday in a midweek 6:30 PM matchup. The game can be seen on ACC Network Extra. The Deacons will head to Greensboro for a Tuesday night tilt with the UNCG Spartans. First pitch for that is at 6:00 PM.