Bulldogs thump Tigers 6-1 in Athens

ATHENS -- In-between the 3rd and 4th inning, Clemson head coach Monte Lee stepped out of the dugout and called his players together for a long, one-sided conversation.

The Tigers were trailing 6-1 and were in need of a spark to get back into the game against a good No. 19 Georgia team.

Whatever Lee said to his guys between innings didn’t work as the Tigers fell for the fourth time in five games.

A Georgia team that is off to its best start since 2009 defeated the Tigers 6-1 in Athens to sweep the midweek rivalry series.

Clemson looked like it was out for revenge after its 6-3 loss to Georgia last week in Augusta in the 1st inning. Logan Davidson led off the game with a home run to give Clemson plenty of momentum early.

But Georgia answered right back with a big 1st inning of its own. The Bulldogs gave the Tigers a taste of their own medicine by scoring four runs all with two outs.

With runners on the corners, Aaron Schunk hit a deep fly ball that was just over the outstretched arm of a diving Seth Beer that would have ended the inning. Instead, it was a triple that scored two runs.

Two pitches later, Adam Sasser blasted an opposite-field home run to stretch Georgia’s lead to 4-1 and give them all the room they needed.

"Georgia deserves a lot of credit. They were the better ballclub tonight, they were the better ballclub last week," a frustrated Lee said after the loss. "They hit us right there in the mouth in the 1st inning... we got two outs in the first, and then the wheels fell off."

Georgia continued to dogpile on, adding a run in two consecutive innings. Clemson's Travis Marr didn’t have his best stuff tonight, giving up five runs on five hits on only ten batters faced.

The freshman came into the contest 3-0 with a 2.81 ERA, but that statistic shot up to 4.05 before the second inning was over.

Before you knew it, Clemson was down 6-1 and Lee felt like he needed to talked to his team.

"We gotta see if we can outplay them for the next six innings," Lee told his surrounding team. "That's really all we could control at that point. I felt like, pitching-wise, we did... We gotta keep working on what we can try to do offensively to be a little bit more competitive."

 Clemson's staff of five relievers were the bright spot on an otherwise dark night for Clemson. After giving up six runs in the first three innings, Clemson settled down and managed to put zeros up on the scoreboard for the rest of the game.

But Clemson’s offense wasn’t able to get anything going against Georgia’s stout pitching staff and defense. The Tigers were 2-for-10 with runners on base and 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. 

The closest Clemson got to putting a dent into Georgia's lead was when the Tigers had runners on first and second with two outs but Jordan Greene hit it right to third base.

Georgia freshman Will Proctor got his first career start in tonight’s game. But it didn’t look like it. The Freshman gave up Clemson’s only three hits of the game and struck out three as well in four innings of work.

Georgia’s relievers of Tony Locey, Kevin Smith, and Zac Kristofak gave the Tigers all they could handle. The three would combine to only allow one Clemson hit the rest of the night as the Tigers fell for the 11th time this season.

An offense that had been known for its plate discipline struck out ten times and was only walked three times.

The three relievers combined to strike out seven batters, including one that all but ended it against Drew Wharton when the Tigers had runners on the corners with two outs in the 8th. It was just that kind of night for Clemson.

"They run a lot of different looks at you," Lee said. "It makes it tough on an offense and they deserve a lot of credit...Offensively, we either score a bunch of runs or we aren't scoring."

Clemson and Georgia both now have identical 26-11 records. The Tigers travel to Wake Forest Friday looking to rebound from their slump this weekend. After losing four of their last five, Lee is not satisfied with the position his team is in right now.

Lee put a lot of the blame on himself, saying it was on him for Clemson to be better at the plate and getting back to what made them look like such a good team. Clemson is OK right now, but as a competitor, Lee wants to do what he can to get the consistency back.

"I don't think any of us are pleased where we are at," Davidson said after his coach walked away. "We definitely have a good team, but I don't think we are playing as good as we can play. I think we all know that.

"We'll get there."