No. 6 Clemson swats the Yellow Jackets in opening ACC series sweep
CLEMSON -- It took eight innings for Clemson to score the seven runs needed to defeat Georgia Tech in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
In game two, Clemson scored seven runs in the first inning and didn’t look back.
The Tigers won game three of their sweep of the Yellow Jackets 13-2 in dominating fashion in all phases.
“Very proud of my guys so far,” Monte Lee said after his team’s 15th win of the season.
When it rains, it pours. After a two-and-a-half hour rain delay pushed the game’s start time back, Clemson was anxious to come out swinging from the start. Once one run scored, there was no stopping the Tigers from pouring it on.
The first inning was as easy as it seemed, but not so easy for Georgia Tech starter Brant Hurter.
Logan Davidson was hit by a pitch, and Clemson’s next two batters were walked to load the bases with no outs. A Chris Williams sacrifice fly gave the Tigers their first run of the inning. A Robert Jolly single, Grayson Byrd single, and a Logan Davidson double scored six more runs to put a hurting on Hurter, who only lasted the first inning.
This Clemson team can kill you softly or with one big inning. Patrick Cromwell told us Friday night his teammates have put a great emphasis on quality at-bats and plate discipline. Scoring seven runs on only three hits in one inning was the latest example.
Clemson’s offense didn’t stop there. Seth Beer hit a two-run home run, his third of the series, second of the day in the third inning. The shot over the Cajun Café left Georgia Tech fans hoping it was last call.
But Williams in his first game playing from behind the plate in almost a year added another home run to the tally. It was his 19th RBI of the season, leading the team, as Clemson built a comfortable 10-2 lead.
After Cromwell singled to left-center to score another run, Bryce Teodosio had finally put the barrel on the ball. The freshman hit his second home run of the series in the bottom of the 7th inning, and then scored another run with a base hit in the bottom of the 8th giving Clemson the 13-2 lead for good.
This was a good series for the young Teodosio, who literally seems to be hit-or-miss from the plate. Home runs like the ones we saw this weekend are sure to continue to build his confidence.
“It’s always good to have the bottom of the order give you really good offensive production,” Lee said. “Grayson Byrd had his best game of the year offensively (3-for-5, 2 RBIs) and Teodosio had two two-strike hits. I’m very proud of Teo. I’m pretty hard on him sometimes, but that’s just because I think he has so much upside.”
Starter Jake Higginbotham had a tremendous outing for Clemson retiring nine of his first ten batters faced. After that, the hard-hitting Joey Bart sent a line-drive right back at Higginbotham, which grazed his left shoulder and hit him right inside the left part of his jaw.
Higginbotham immediately stood up, shook it off, and began throwing again. He gave up three consecutive hits, including a two-run home run to Kyle McCann, but got out of the inning fired up with a strikeout.
He pitched five innings with a ton of breathing room. The left-hander gave up four hits, two runs, and struck out four batters on 75 pitches. Travis Marr came in right after, and there wasn’t much of a drop-off between the two. He gave up four hits, and no runs on 12 batters faced.
Sam Weatherly finished things off in the final inning to preserve the win.
The Tigers threw eight arms on Wednesday in their marathon of a win over Michigan State and threw only eight arms all weekend in this opening ACC series sweep.
“What you see with our team is we like to use our bullpen,” Lee said. “We feel like we have some depth in the pen and we have guys that are capable of pounding the strike zone and getting out. A lot of teams aren’t as fortunate as we are.”
Consistency on offense and defense were key all weekend, especially in Saturday night’s blowout. Clemson was 7-of-22 and 6-of-17 with runners in scoring position. The Tigers outscored the Yellow Jackets 23-7 on the weekend.
It was so out of hand early, Clemson players were seen having some usual fun with their head coach between innings. While Lee was being interviewed on television, Owen Griffith photo-bombed him by pretending to swat flies behind him.
Or maybe Yellow Jackets.
The Tigers are now 15-1 after winning their fifth game in five days and continue to stay hot. This is the best start for Clemson since 2002.
The Tigers advanced to Omaha for the College World Series that season and finished third in all polls.
"We are kind of rolling on all cylinders," Byrd said.
"The confidence is always high."