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Clemson Baseball

Nine-run fifth inning sparks (another) Clemson comeback over Michigan State

March 7, 2018
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GREENVILLE -- It was the latest example of another Clemson comeback.

There were no late-game heroics from a Clemson batter. No walk-off magic for the Michigan State Spartans. This time, the spectacle of the evening came in the top of the fifth inning when Clemson came up to the plate.

Down 6-0, the Tigers strung together a nine-run inning to take the lead for good and give No. 6 Clemson a 9-7 win over Michigan State.

Nine runs.

“We just had one of those innings where the offense got contagious,” Clemson head coach Monte Lee said. “We had 13 consecutive quality at-bats. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that before.”

There were no home runs in the inning. Not even one extra-base hit. The Tigers got all of their offensive production from a few base hits, seven to be exact; and their plate discipline, drawing a few walks as well with the bases loaded.

Just like last night against Wofford, the Tigers got off to an extremely slow start. Starter Spencer Strider got rocked in only one ⅓ innings, giving up five hits and five runs in the process.

Clemson kept trying to stop the bleeding, but the runs just kept gushing. Mat Clarke gave up four hits right after he came in for Strider in the second inning. The Spartans got nine hits off of Clemson’s first two pitchers, who didn’t even last a full three innings.

Wofford got off to a 2-0 lead last night because of Clemson’s sloppy play, but the Tigers got away with it. Surely, trailing 6-0 against a quality Michigan State team after three innings, this was the night Clemson’s mistakes would catch up to them.

But that didn’t happen.

Lee’s club had just watched themselves give up a 6-0 lead to in-state rival South Carolina on Sunday. They figured “if they could do it, why couldn’t we?”

There was an actual fire heater ablaze in Clemson’s dugout, which finally heated up Clemson in the fifth inning on a cold night in Greenville. Here is a recap of what happened when the Tigers came to bat (bear with us):

After Justin Hawkins got walked to lead off the inning, Grayson Byrd lined out to right field.
Kyle Wilkie hit a single, advancing Hawkins to second.
Here come the RBIs: Logan Davidson and Seth Beer hit two consecutive singles to score two runs.
A Patrick Cromwell walk loaded the bases.
Chris Williams hit a single, scoring a run.
Pitching change.
Eight consecutive balls scored two more runs.
Another pitching change.
Justin Hawkins hit a ground ball deep to the shortstop, and there was no play, scoring another run (seeing a trend?).
Byrd hit a sacrifice fly, finally giving Michigan State an out it desperately needed, but Clemson scored another run.
Wilkie and Davidson hit two more singles for Clemson’s eight and ninth run.
Beer flew out to end the inning.
Once the damage was done, Clemson took the field on defense to a standing ovation from the fans. The Tigers rode the momentum from the inning on and were cruising for another victory.

Until the bottom of the ninth.

“Then, we held on for dear life,” Lee said with his eyes wide.

Closer Riley Gilliam took the mound with a chance to regain his confidence after a tough last outing, but he didn’t last long. He gave up two hits and a run to give Michigan State the momentum it needed to make a comeback of its own.

With the bases loaded, tying run on second, and after the seventh arm Clemson threw all night, Lee called on Carson Spiers to come in to shut the game down.

This was the second time in 24 hours Spiers took the mound. He threw three ⅔  innings against Wofford the night before. Lee said he was only going to give Spiers three batters before he looked for another arm.

He got the job done in two.

“When I got on the mound, I just calmed down and did what I always do: throw strikes.”

An infield fly and a strikeout ended the marathon of a game and Spiers was awarded his second save of the season. Michigan State left 15 runners on base throughout the game.

Spiers is beginning to enjoy coming in as a closer for his team.

“The closing role is awesome. It gets your heart going,” Spiers said. “I told coach See I wanted to be live for this game. I feel like I am the type of guy that can go two times in a row or two times in a weekend. I’m happy they called my name, and I got the opportunity to do that.”

It’s been a season full of drama so far for Clemson, and it’s only been 13 games. The Tigers are 12-1 heading into their first ACC series against Georgia Tech this weekend.

No matter how much the Tigers may be down in a game, you can’t count them out. Lee’s players never show any quit, which has to be the most impressive characteristic Clemson has shown from top to bottom. This team can get the job done in so many different ways, which is what can make them so dangerous as the year progresses.

In games like tonight where it seems like a marathon on the diamond, the Tigers always seem to find a way to sprint when they need to the most.

 
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