Clemson powers past Coastal behind four Tiger bombs

CLEMSON -- After a walk-off grand slam at Coastal Carolina gave Clemson its fourth consecutive loss two weeks ago, Clemson wanted to get a little payback with some long-balls of its own.

Six hits, four of which were home runs, were all Clemson needed to get past the No. 18 Chanticleers 6-1 in the midweek matchup.

“We definitely owed them one," Logan Davidson said after the win. "That was nice to get back out there on the field and play a really good game against a really good ball club.”

The Tigers were led by their 9-hitter Jordan Greene, who got two hits on the night and drove in two runs on a 2-run home run in the 5th inning that pushed Clemson to a comfortable 3-0 lead.

"He made a mistake," Greene said after his home run landed in the Chapman Grandstands.

Greene, normally a contact-hitter in the 9-spot, has hit two home runs in the last two games he’s started in.

Greene came into the game batting .269 and after the night was over, his average rose to .300.

Clemson head coach Monte Lee said Greene probably needs to get his back checked. Greene agreed.

"You probably do," Greene jokingly said. He attributed his success to Davidson, who apparently kissed the barrel of his bat before tonight's game. Greene was all smiles and full of jokes after he's found his groove as of late.

"The blind squirrel found two nuts," Greene added.

Four different players hit home runs for the Tigers on the beautiful Tuesday evening at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Chris Williams started things off for Clemson in the 2nd inning with a solo, line-drive home run to give Clemson a 1-0 lead.

After that, it was all quiet offensively for both teams for a while.

Clemson’s starter Spencer Strider was spectacular in only his second career start. He got shelled in his first start against Michigan State in Greenville, but tonight was a much better outing, to say the least.

The freshman pitcher was dominant all evening and Strider had a no-hit bid after six innings pitched. In the top of the 7th, Coastal Carolina’s Lee Sponseller gave the Chanticleers their first hit of the game. Strider gave up a full-count single down the left-field line to the very next batter to give Coastal Carolina its only run of the game.

Strider exited the game to a standing ovation from the pleased home crowd and he gave the fans a tip of the cap. He struck out seven batters and walked three in 6.2 innings pitched to give him his third win of the year.

“I don’t know if he could have thrown better," Lee said. "He pitched as well as he possibly could have. “

Strider's confidence has come back after a rocky first career start against Michigan State a couple weeks ago. He's come out of the bullpen lately and has gained more of his command and has been pounding the strike zone.

Lee said tonight's outing was just a glimpse of what is expected to come from the freshman.

“What I’ve seen out of him was him maturing and getting more comfortable," Lee said. "He’s been more consistent out of the bullpen lately.

"We felt like Spencer is going to be a huge part of our future. He’s going to be a dominant type guy on the weekends, we believe. We wanted to give him a start and that opportunity to continue to develop."

In the 5th inning is where Clemson started to blast off with its bats. Greene hit his 2-run shot to give Clemson the 3-0 lead and Logan Davidson followed up with a back-to-back home run of his own at the top of the order.

After Coastal Carolina scored its first run in the 7th inning, Clemson answered with two quick runs in the home half. Grayson Byrd’s fourth home run of the season began the inning for the Tigers and Seth Beer brought home Greene after his single with an opposite-field double, the only two hits of the night that weren't home runs for Clemson.

Lee attributed Clemson's offensive success the last five games to Clemson's long-awaited production at the bottom of the order. Quality at-bats from the seven through nine hitters will give players like Davidson and Beer to really open things up.

“We are getting really good balance at the bottom of the order," Lee said. "I think that is the reasons our runs have been up there. We only had six hits tonight to score six runs. A lot of that has to do with the fact that we are getting good production out of the bottom of the order.”

Alex Schnell and Travis Marr came in for Clemson to shut the game down completely. Schnell gave up one hit and exited the game in the 9th with runners on the corners. Marr retired three of the next four batters, the final one with the bases loaded, to secure the win.

The Tigers moved to 23-6 after the win and play Notre Dame in South Bend this weekend.