Will Taylor, Nolan Nawrocki, and Blake Wright hit home runs, and Clemson held off a ninth-inning rally to defeat South Carolina, 5-4, in the Palmetto Series Sunday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
The Tigers (9-1 overall) won both contests of this weekend’s series by identical scores.
“I’m proud of our guys and proud of the way we competed the past two days,” Clemson coach Erik Bakich said afterwards. “It goes back to two heavyweight punches. We were just one run better again. I thought we competed really well and got some big hits again.”
In this one, they had to come from behind after Cole Messina’s two-run first inning home run off Clemson starter Aiden Knaak staked the Gamecocks to a quick 2-0 lead.
The Tigers got on the board in the bottom of the inning when Taylor went deep off South Carolina starter Dylan Eskew to cut the lead to 2-1. It was the fourth home run in the past week for Taylor, who went deep three times in Tuesday’s Clemson win over SC Upstate.
Dylan Brewer, the former Tiger who spent three seasons at Clemson, singled down the right field line in the third to extend the Gamecocks’ lead to 3-1 in the third inning.
Clemson tied the game in the fourth. Jimmy Obertop grounded to the left side of the infield to score Taylor and cut the lead to 3-2. Andrew Ciufo then followed with a two-out soft single that dropped into right field to score Blake Wright from second and even the game at 3-apiece.
“We played the game. Get ’em on, get ’em over, get ’em in,” Bakich said.
In the sixth, Nawrocki gave Clemson the lead at 4-3 when he turned on a fastball from Roman Kimball and sent it well over the left field fence.
South Carolina threatened in the seventh, but Nick Clayton struck out Messina to end the inning and strand the potential tying run at third.
When Wright homered off Kimball to lead off the eighth on a deep drive just to the left of straight-away center field, it gave the Tigers an insurance run and made the score 5-3.
Austin Gordon came on to work the ninth inning and allowed a two-out solo home run to Ethan Petry that made it a one-run game. Messina followed with a walk after being behind 0-2 in the count before Gordon got Talmadge LeCroy to ground to third for the final out.
“Ninth innings are tough. They never go 1-2-3,” Bakich said. “It was only fitting that there was some drama in the ninth, but ultimately I loved the way our guys competed and that we clinched the series.”
Drew Titsworth (1-0) earned the win in relief for Clemson, tossing 1 1/3 innings of shutout ball. The Tigers used four pitchers in relief of starter Aiden Knaak, who allowed three runs on four hits in five innings. Knaak got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning when he coaxed Brewer on a fly ball to left before facing the minimum three batters in the fifth.
Clayton recorded four outs and got out of a couple of key jams. The senior right-hander ran into trouble in the eighth inning when he issued a pair of walks to put the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base for Will Tippett. Matthew Marchal entered in relief and got Tippett to fly out to third base to end the threat.
The Gamecocks (8-3) left 11 runners on base Sunday and managed only one hit after the fourth inning.
“The situational pitching throughout the game was really good,” Bakich noted. “Aiden Knaak battled and then Drew Titsworth came in and was really good. Nick Clayton… to strand the runner at third with their two dudes up, Petry and Messina, to get a groundout and a strikeout there, that was big time.”
Kimball (1-1) suffered the loss in 3 1/3 innings of relief.
Dylan Eskew started for South Carolina and pitched 3 2/3 innings. Eskew allowed three runs (one earned) on two hits. He struck out four and walked one.
UP NEXT: Clemson will host Kansas State Wednesday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. EST. The game will be broadcast by ACC Network Extra (ACCNX).