Blake Wright hit three home runs, and No. 3 Clemson cruised to an 11-1 victory in eight innings over Presbyterian in non-conference play Wednesday at Fluor Field in Greenville.
Wright’s six RBIs gave him 28 for the season. When he homered off Mason McDaniel in the eighth inning, he had his third home run of the day and his 10th of the season in another solid 3-for-4 performance at the plate.
The game ended after Wright’s eight-inning blast due to the 10-run rule.
Alden Mathes also hit two home runs for the Tigers (19-2 overall), who totaled six round-trippers on the day and outhit the Blue Hose, 10-3.
One day after Wright went 4-for-4 in a 13-3 clubbing of Winthrop, the senior second baseman outdid himself Wednesday by becoming the 17th player in program history — and the second this season, joining Will Taylor — to hit three home runs in one game.
His first long ball of the day came in the third inning off Luke Gibson and was part of back to back homers after Jimmy Obertop had launched a drive just to the left of straight away center field. Those two blasts gave the Tigers a 4-1 lead.
When Wright stepped to the plate an inning later, he cleared the bases with a three-run shot off Yechiel Saint that made it 7-1.
In between then and the eighth inning, Mathes hit his third and fourth home runs of the season with solo shots in consecutive at-bats.
Aside from Wright and Mathes (2-for-5), Jacob Hinderleider (2-for-3) and Jarren Purify (2-3) also had multi-hit games.
Clemson coach Erik Bakich used a bullpen-by-committee in Wednesday’s game with Justin LeGuernic starting and pitching two scoreless innings. LeGuernic fanned five and walked two. Ethan Darden (3-0) followed and was awarded the win after pitching the third inning, allowing the game’s only run (unearned).
Joe Allen, Ty Olenchuk, Drew Titsworth and Nick Clayton finished out the game in relief without allowing a run.
Gibson (0-1) suffered the loss for Presbyterian, who fell to 9-12.
NEXT UP
Clemson will host Florida State in a key ACC series beginning Friday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Seminoles are a perfect 19-0 entering the weekend and are ranked No. 12 in this week’s USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll. First pitch Friday is scheduled for an 8 p.m. EDT prime time start. The game will be broadcast by ACC Network.