In their first ACC matchup of the season, No. 15 Clemson dropped their third-straight contest 11-3 to the Miami Hurricanes Friday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. It all came down to some costly walks and errors early on for the Tigers, who allowed …
In their first ACC matchup of the season, No. 15 Clemson dropped their third-straight contest 11-3 to the Miami Hurricanes Friday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. It all came down to some costly walks and errors early on for the Tigers, who allowed a total nine walks, six of which were later converted to runs.
Mack Anglin earns the loss for the Tigers, his first loss of the season. Left-hander Carson Palmquist tabs the win for the Hurricanes, improving to 4-1.
Miami got on the board quickly in the first. With runners on first and second, Maxwell Romero Jr. and Jacob Burke hit back-to-back RBI singles to put the Hurricanes up 2-0.
The Hurricanes struck yet again in the second, tacking on two more runs. With runners on second and third, Renzo Gonzalez hit an RBI single to bring in the Hurricanes’ third run of the day. Shortly after, CJ Kayfus was brought in on a wild pitch, putting Miami up 4-0.
Walks continued to be a problem for the Tigers. Into the fourth, Miami scored three of their four runs off of runners who reached on a walk. The Hurricanes doubled their lead 8-0 after four innings.
Clemson tried to put together an answer in the bottom of the fourth. Shortstop Ben Blackwell hit a double down the third-base line, good for Clemson’s first hit of the day, but the Tigers were unable to get the bats rolling with two costly strikeouts, leaving Blackwell stranded at third.
Miami brought in another two runs, both unearned, in the sixth. The Hurricane’s tacked on one more run later on in the eighth. Following a throwing error at third base that put JD Jones in scoring position, Dominic Pitelli hit a sac fly to left field to bring in Jones, bringing the score to 11-0.
Clemson attempted to cut into the deficit in the bottom of the eighth. Leading off, Blake Wright hit his first career homer, a bomb to left field, to prevent the shutout. Blackwell and JD Brock followed suit with back-to-back singles along with a walk to load the bases. The Tigers then scored two more runs off of a walk and a fielder’s choice, bringing in both Blackwell and Brock.
Blake Wright struck yet again for the Tigers in the ninth, hitting his second homerun of the day to left field, but it all proved to be too little too, too late. Clemson ultimately came up short with a final score of 11-4.
With the loss, fifteenth-ranked Clemson is now 14-3 overall and 0-1 in ACC play. The Tigers gave up eleven hits, manufacturing seven hits of their own on the day along with two errors.
Clemson returns to action Saturday, March 19, for game two of the Miami series. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on ACCNX.
