No. 18 Tigers Edge No. 22 Louisville 4-3
CLEMSON, S.C. – No. 18 Clemson broke a 1-1 tie with three runs in the seventh inning in its 4-3 victory over No. 22 Louisville at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers, who took a 2-0 lead in the series, improved to 30-17 overall and 13-10 in the ACC. The Cardinals dropped to 29-17 overall and 9-14 in ACC play.
The Tigers scored the game’s first run in the fourth inning on a two-out wild pitch. After Cooper Ingle extended his hitting streak to 18 games with a single in the fifth inning, Ryan McCoy led off the top of the seventh inning with a homer to tie the score 1-1.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Will Taylor drew a nine-pitch walk with the bases loaded to bring home the go-ahead run, then Caden Grice followed with a six-pitch walk to double Clemson’s lead. Billy Amick added a sacrifice fly in the frame. The Cardinals responded with two runs in the eighth inning to narrow Clemson’s lead to 4-3.
Nick Clayton (5-0) earned the win in relief by pitching 1.1 innings. Rob Hughes pitched the ninth inning to record his first save as a Tiger. Clemson starter Austin Gordon pitched 6.0 strong innings, allowing only one hit, no runs and one walk with five strikeouts. Reliever Riley Phillips (4-2) suffered the loss.
The series concludes Sunday at noon on ACC Network Extra.