Clemson Baseball Review: Notre Dame

Game 1: Notre Dame 5, Clemson 2

Game one was postponed from Friday because of cold weather, forcing game one to be Saturday with a doubleheader on Sunday. Maybe Clemson should stay home, there seems to be a pattern with these road series.

The cold weather had an effect on ace pitcher Jacob Hennessey, as he struggled in the first inning giving up a walk and then a two run homer to Jake Johnson to make it a quick 2-0 Notre Dame lead. Hennessey would end up going 6 ²⁄₃ 7H 4R 2BB 2K but pitched better than his final line indicated keeping the Tigers in throughout. Carson Spiers gave up a costly two out RBI single in the seventh that closed the book for Hennessey, and Alex Schnell gave up a towering home run with two out in the eighth that cemented the final score. It was Notre Dame’s first win against Clemson since 2015.

The Tigers had their chances loading the bases with one out in the 7th and 8th innings, but came away with nothing leaving 14 runners on base for the game.

The big news from Saturday’s game was the season debut of top freshman CF Kier Meredith and he did not disappoint picking up a walk in his first at bat before showing off his world class speed with a triple in his second AB. Not all was rosy for Meredith in his first game as he was thrown out at home on a shallow fly out to right center, and struck out with the bases loaded in the 8th. Nonetheless he showed what a great weapon he will be for Monte Lee and the Tigers offense in the second half.

Game 2: Clemson 6, Notre Dame 3

Jordan Greene got the offense started in the 3rd with a homer to left and then was promptly followed by Kier Meredith who wasted no time picking up his first career homer. Greene than struck again in the 4th with a 2 RBI single, Drew Wharton had a two out RBI single in the 5th, and speaking of first career homers Sophomore Kyle Wilkie picked up his first jack in the 6th to make it 6-0.

Brooks Crawford picked a good time to throw his best game of the season, going 7 strong allowing 5 hits on 1 run with 1 walk and 1 strikeout. Ryan Miller came in and finished the game but not before making it interesting in the ninth allowing Notre Dame to score twice before collecting the 27th out.

Notre Dame out hit Clemson and had three balls that went all the way to the wall just missing homers, but as they say baseball is a game of inches.

Game 3: Clemson 5, Notre Dame 2

Game three started off good for Clemson has Chris Williams who struggled mightily the first two games picked up a 2 out RBI single to give the Tigers an early 1-0 lead. The offense added two more runs in the 5th on a Meredith Single, and then on a double steal which allowed Greene to score.

Jake Higginbotham cruised through 5 innings until giving up back-to-back hits to start the 6th and was pulled for Travis Marr, Marr allowed the 2 runs to score though via outs and got out of the inning.

The game remained close until the eighth when Williams picked up another RBI single and Notre Dame traded a run for a double play via Jolley. Gilliam pitched the final two innings starting off shaky, but Andrew See worked his magic and Gilliam finished out the game for the save.

A good road series win especially after losing Saturday, Notre Dame is better than their RPI (86) and Clemson keeps themselves within striking distance of NC State. Next up is #16 Georgia, Tuesday in North Augusta first pitch at 6:30pm.