Clemson's bats bounce back in a huge way to tie series with Florida State
CLEMSON -- In Clemson’s Saturday night 3-2 loss to Florida State, the Tigers only managed to generate six hits in 13 innings of action.
Sunday afternoon, the ping of the aluminum bats were a symphony to Clemson fans as the Tigers had eight hits through three innings and built a 5-run cushion.
No. 6 Clemson held on to its momentum at the plate all afternoon and got the bounce-back 12-7 win it needed to tie the series.
“Our balance was really, really good,” Monte Lee said after his team’s 34th win of the season. “We swung the bats very well and were very aggressive.”
It was a breezy afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, and if you like home runs, then you were easily entertained. Seven total home runs were hit between the two teams.
It got to the point where if you were a fan at Doug Kingsmore, you wanted to make your way to the Cheap Seats for a better chance of catching a souvenir.
The Seminoles started things off with two quick home runs in the first inning to silence the crowd of 5,000. In fact, Florida State’s first four hits were all solo home runs. Catcher Cal Raleigh continued his impressive weekend for the Seminoles batting 3-for-4 with two home runs.
Clemson starter Brooks Crawford had only given up three home runs all season but gave up four in his five innings of action.
“I thought Crawford threw the ball fairly well. I mean, it was a tough day to pitch,” Lee said. “You could tell in batting practice; there were guys hitting balls over the batter's eye, and over the scoreboard in batting practice. It’s very rare that you see the wind blow like that at Doug Kingsmore.”
The story of the afternoon was Clemson’s ability to respond - to the loss from the night before, and to every punch, the Seminoles threw.
There were plenty of fears that the Tigers’ heads wouldn’t be in it after the heartbreaking 3-2 loss in extra innings the night before. After quickly falling into a 2-0 deficit on Sunday, there were reasons for concern.
But the Tigers bounced right back in the 1st inning, scoring two runs thanks to a Patrick Cromwell 2-RBI single. Every time Florida State tried to generate some momentum with the long ball, someone from Clemson was there to slam the door.
Whether it was Robert Jolly battling with two outs to drive in a run in the bottom of the 3rd or Seth Beer hitting his 13th home run of the year in the 5th, Clemson was the aggressor all game long. The Tigers scored at least one run in the first six innings, and a 5-run 3rd inning gave the Seminoles all they could handle.
It didn’t matter who stepped up to the plate for Clemson. Every player in the lineup did some damage by scoring at least one hit and one run.
It also didn’t matter who stepped up to the microphone post game as Patrick Cromwell, Grayson Byrd, and Chris Williams all impersonated each other when answering questions directed at each of them.
The fun these guys have with each other on a daily basis was on display yet again with the war paint on their faces and the hysterical laughs at their own jokes after a big-time win.
Lee always says his team stays even-keeled, especially when the going gets tough. When the Tigers found themselves down 2-0 in the 1st, Cromwell delivered with two outs, and the bases loaded in what was the biggest at-bat of the afternoon.
“That’s a pretty tough letdown to have the bases loaded and not get anything out of that, especially after they hit two home runs in the 1st and were up 2-0,” Lee said. “We needed to be able to answer, and we did.”
The other play of the afternoon belonged to Byrd, whose 3-run home run in the bottom of the 3rd inning broke a 3-3 tie and gave Clemson the lead for good. Byrd knew before the game even began that it was going to be a fun day swinging the bat.
“During batting practice, the wind was blowing out a little bit, and there was a couple swings I took where I was like, ‘shoot man,’” Byrd said (as Byrd). After hitting it, the ball kept carrying so I was like, ‘well, it might end up being a good day after all.’”
A “good day” was an understatement as Clemson scored 12 runs on 13 hits, hit 4-for-8 when leading off innings, and was 14-for-24 on advancement opportunities.
Now, Clemson faces Florida State on Monday with the series on the line at 7:00 PM on ESPN2. But don’t expect these players to show any signs of the pressure that comes with that.
“We’re not going to let it get to our heads or anything,” Cromwell said while impersonating Williams, who sat to his right covering his face from laughing so hard.
“We’re just going to go out there and play our game. We’re just going to have some fun with it, and we’ll see what happens.”