No. 6 Clemson defeats Wofford 6-3 to remain undefeated at home

CLEMSON – No. 6 Clemson defeated midweek opponent Wofford 6-3 to remain undefeated at home on the regular season.

Carson Spiers got his first win as a Tiger after pitching the final 3.2 innings and only allowing one hit on 12 batters faced. He struck out the final two batters to end Wofford’s night.

The 11-1 Tigers moved to 14-0 all-time against the Terriers from Spartanburg, but it didn’t come without another late-game rally.

Wofford got things going in the first inning with a two-strike, two-out double that went just over Seth Beer’s head, which drove in the game’s first two runs in the top of the first.

The Tigers were lifeless for much of the game until Justin Hawkins gave Clemson the offensive spark it needed. In only his second start this season, the junior hit a home run to left-center field in the bottom of the sixth to cut Wofford’s lead to 3-2.

“In my earlier at-bats, they were kind of keeping it low on me and I was really trying to find something up in the zone,” Hawkins said. “On the second pitch, I really got that and I took advantage of it."

Hawkins continues to compete for playing time amongst the rest of Clemson’s infielders so he’s been trying to use his bat to make a statement. He’s hitting .333 on the season and went 1-for-3 tonight. Hawkins told Clemson Sports Talk he’s willing to play wherever in the infield as long as the coaches will give him the opportunity to do so.

The seventh inning is where the Tigers made their presence felt. Logan Davidson hit his second home run in two games to tie the game 3-3 and give Clemson all of the momentum. Again, when Clemson was down there was no sense of panic. Better yet, there was hardly any sense at all.

“We were just waiting for something to happen,” head coach Monte Lee said. “I think we were just sitting there - all of us, coaches included - just waiting for somebody to hit the ball on the barrel.”

Lee told his team around the fourth or fifth inning that somebody was going to get the game going for Clemson offensively. Luckily for Clemson, Hawkins and Davidson heard him.

Once the game was tied, the wheels fell apart for Wofford.

Robert Jolly reached on an error where Wofford’s infield dropped the ball allowing a run to score with one out. With the bases loaded, Drew Wharton and Hawkins were walked consecutively to give Clemson four runs in the seventh and a 6-3 lead it would not give up.

The Tigers only got six hits, but timely walks, errors, and a couple of long balls gave them the six runs they needed to find a way to win.

Clemson plays Michigan State tomorrow in Greenville, S.C. at Fluor Field at 7:00 PM and will play as the visiting team.