Coming into the 2022 season, Clemson coach Monte Lee pinpointed the mound as the primary area the Tigers’ baseball team needed to improve if they are going to successfully rebound from last season’s disappointment.
One weekend is a minuscule sample size, but Clemson is at least off to a strong start in that regard.
Thirteen pitchers combined to hold Indiana to eight earned runs in 28 innings over the weekend, helping the Tigers start the new campaign with a sweep of a fellow Power Six program. In three games, including a 10-inning finale on Sunday, Clemson limited the Hoosiers to 19 hits while piling up 31 strikeouts.
“You look at the weekend with 28 innings of baseball, we really only had one inning where we struggled to throw strikes. I’ll take that,” said Lee, whose team ranked 10th in the ACC last season with a 5.00 earned run average. “We forced the other team to swing the bat to beat us. I’ll take that.”
Sophomore right-hander Mack Anglin befuddled IU’s lineup for five no-hit innings at the start of a 9-0 win for the Tigers on Friday, but Clemson’s bullpen was just as strong in helping lock down the last two victories. The Tigers’ relievers limited IU to just two runs in 17 ⅓ innings on the weekend.
The bullpen having to log that many innings means not everything was perfect on the bump. Anglin was the only starter to get past the third inning. Nick Clayton couldn’t get out of the second in Saturday’s game before yielding four runs, and Nick Hoffman lasted just three innings in Sunday’s start.
“We need to get deeper into the ball game,” Lee said. “I’m not as concerned about getting hit as I am that we’ve got to be able to make some pitches with runners on base and get a little deeper in the game from the starting pitcher side.”
Hoffman walked three batters before his day was done, part of nine free passes issued by the Tigers on Sunday. But 10 relievers picked up the slack over the final two games to keep IU’s offense at bay.
Clemson faced a four-run deficit before the third inning Saturday, but freshman Casey Tallent and sophomore Geoffrey Gilbert kept IU off the board in the middle innings to give the Tigers a chance to rally and then some. Tallent followed Clayton with 2.1 hitless innings in his collegiate debut while Gilbert allowed just one hit and struck out four in two innings of work.
By that time, Clemson had a nine-run lead in what turned into a 19-4 rout. Austin Gordon, Rocco Reid and freshman Jay Dill combined to throw the last three frames, allowing just one hit and one walk among them.
“We have several guys that are built to start,” Lee said. “Those guys can go long. We can stretch those guys out and get them a time through the lineup if needed. That certainly helps when you’re able to go to those guys early in the game if your starter struggles.”
Things were dicier Sunday with the Hoosiers leading 4-3 after six innings. Jackson Lindley allowed one run in 2 ⅔ innings of relief, and IU scored the go-ahead run in the sixth against Ryan Ammons, who couldn’t get out of the inning.
But Alex Edmondson came on to get the final out of the frame and joined Ty Olenchuck and Dill to throw 3 ⅓ scoreless innings of relief to help the Tigers send the game to extras. In the 10th, Lee turned to first baseman/outfielder Caden Grice, who worked out of a bases-loaded jam after allowing a hit and two walks in his first mound appearance of the season.
“I knew I had the stuff to get us through that inning,” Grice said.
It allowed Clemson to walk it off in the home half of the inning on Bryar Hawkins’ sacrifice fly.
“I thought that was the difference in the game,” Lee said. “With the game being tied like that and us having the last at-bat, we had to keep it tied. Our bullpen was going to have to do a great job, Those guys at the end, they were just outstanding.”
Clemson will try to keep the momentum going Tuesday when the Tigers host College of Charleston for their first midweek game. Clemson will then entertain Hartford for a three-game series beginning Friday.
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