Tigers Surge Into Title Game With 10-4 Win Over UNC
DURHAM, N.C. (theACC.com) – Clemson keeps putting up wins, and the Tigers’ late-season surge has carried them to the finals of this year’s Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship
Billy Amick and Blake Wright each hit home runs, and starting pitcher Caden Grice worked a solid seven innings as Clemson handled seventh-seeded North Carolina, 10-4, in Saturday’s tournament semifinal game at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
The third-seeded Tigers (42-17) advance to face fourth-seeded Miami (40-18) in Sunday’s noon championship game (ESPN2). Clemson will be riding a 15-game winning streak – the longest active streak among NCAA Division I Power 5 teams – as it seeks its 16th ACC baseball championship and first since 2016.
Tomas Frick hit a pair of home runs for UNC (35-22), which now awaits the unveiling of this year’s NCAA bracket on Monday and is expectant of earning a berth for the sixth consecutive season.
The light drizzle at the game’s outset did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the Clemson batters, who chased North Carolina starter Connor Bovair (4-4) by batting around for five runs in the bottom of the first. Grice started the opening flurry with a two-run double for his seventh and eighth RBI of the tournament. Amick followed with a two-run homer, his 12th of the season and a towering shot that caromed off the chest of the iconic bull atop the wall in left field.
Wright added his eighth home run of the season, a solo shot to right field with two outs to make it 5-0 out of the gate.
UNC got on the board in the top of the second on Hunter Stokely’s RBI double, but the Tigers countered with Amick’s two-run triple in the bottom of the inning, and Cooper Ingle’s run-scoring single in the bottom of the third made it 8-1 and left the Tar Heels to play a futile game of catch-up.
Every Clemson starter reached base at least once, and Cam Cannarella tied an ACC Championship single-game record with a pair of triples. The Tigers’ three triples total tied a tournament team mark.
Grice (8-1) yielded solo homers to Alberto Osuna in the fifth inning and Frick in the sixth but still pitched an efficient seven innings, allowing four total hits and striking out nine while walking only one batter.