Urban's Walkoff Homer Powers Clemson Over Eagles 6-4
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. - First-year freshman pinch-hitter Alex Urban hit a two-run homer, the first long ball of his career, with one out in the ninth inning to lift Clemson to a 6-4 walkoff win over Georgia Southern at SRP Park on Tuesday night. The Tigers improved to 9-9, while the Eagles dropped to 10-9.
Clemson jumped out to an early lead on Caden Grice's three-run homer, his sixth of the year, in the first inning. In the fourth inning, the Eagles scored two runs on one hit and a costly error, then Kier Meredith led off the fifth inning with his first home run of the season to give Clemson a 4-2 lead. Georgia Southern cut the lead in half in the seventh inning with a run after another error.
With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, Sam Blancato lofted a high flyball to shallow left field that fell for a triple, allowing the tying run to score. In the bottom of the ninth inning, leadoff batter Davis Sharpe reached on an error and advanced to second base on Bryce Teodosio's sacrifice bunt. Urban, making his first appearance in a game since March 14, came off the bench and crushed a two-run homer over the fence in right field for Clemson's first walkoff homer since March 10, 2019, when Logan Davidson hit a two-run homer against North Carolina in a 5-4 walkoff win.
Nick Clayton (2-0), the last of five Tiger pitchers, earned the win, as Clemson allowed just four hits against a team that entered the game with a .317 batting average on the season. Jacob Parker (0-1) suffered the loss.
The Tigers travel to Boston College for a three-game series, beginning Friday at 4 p.m. on ACC Network.