No. 10 Tigers walk off series-opener in Columbia in extras over Gamecocks |
COLUMBIA - As it turns out, more than nine innings in Columbia were indeed in the cards for this weekend, and
Andrew Ciufo made it a night he won’t forget with a walk-off homer to deep center for No. 10 Clemson to top South Carolina in 12 innings, 5-4.
Only three pitches after his teammate Jimmy Obertop’s walk-off attempt came a few feet short of a game-winner, Ciufo put some extra oomph on the batted pitch to secure the win. Ciufo's bomb was the first walk-off home run in the rivalry series for Clemson. "That's pretty special. My team from inning one to (12), we didn't give up. We stayed tough the entire time. We knew we had it in us. It was just a matter of who was going to do it and who was going to be the guy," Ciufo said. Clemson improved to 8-1, while the No. 19-ranked Gamecocks fell to 8-2. The Tigers can secure a 10th weekend series win in a row on Sunday in Clemson (2 p.m./ACCNX). Matthew Marchal pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to improve to 2-0 on the season. Ciufo was 3-for-6 with two runs scored.
#TheWalkoff@AndrewCiufo 💣 🐅 pic.twitter.com/2VHisNy0XG
— Clemson Baseball (@ClemsonBaseball) March 3, 2024
CLEMSON’S FIRST WALK-OFF HOME RUN VS SOUTH CAROLINA THANKS TO @AndrewCiufo ‼️#Clemson pic.twitter.com/AI0vn0mkic
— Clemson Baseball (@ClemsonBaseball) March 3, 2024
Clemson took a 4-1 lead into the ninth but saw that edge slip away quickly after a chunk of the garnet and black contingent in the 9,284 fans at Segra Park had hit the exits.
When South Carolina’s Will Tippett reached second base to lead off the ninth, Clemson brought in its first right-handed pitcher of the day, side-arming transfer Lucas Mahlstedt. Gamecocks pinch-hitter Blake Jackson’s flyball to the right field gap went just past Alden Mathes’ glove to score South Carolina’s second run of the game, with Jackson advancing to third for the triple. Jackson then came home on an opposite-field shot from Ethan Petry to tie up the game.
Mahlstedt finished out the frame, and after the Tigers went down in the order, Clemson returned to extra innings for the first time since the heart-breaker 14-inning defeat to Tennessee in last year’s NCAA regionals. South Carolina entered the inning 0-for-9 hitting with runners in scoring position.
It was the first extra-innings game for the series since the 2021 season, which featured the teams splitting those types of affairs in one weekend, 3-2 in 11 innings for South Carolina and 8-7 in 10 innings for Clemson.
"We knew we were going to take punches and trade punches. When two heavyweights go at it, you trade punches a lot, so that was a big punch to take. So credit to our guys, we just kept plugging away, and then they bring in the lefty (Garrett) Gainey and he has a premium fastball. He had our number there for a minute," Clemson head coach Erik Bakich said. "We were able to put enough zeros up that we got the hit in the bottom of the 12th by Ciufo. The storyline of the night (was) pitching, defense, timely hitting...Just a heck of a game. One of the games that that's what college baseball and rivalry games are all about. Somebody had to lose tonight and I'm just glad it wasn't us."
Both teams stranded runners through each of the first three-plus innings, with some even reaching third, with both starting pitchers working well through the trouble.
Tristan Smith, the sophomore Clemson left-handed starter, reached a career-best in strikeouts with seven by the third inning, stranding former Clemson outfielder Dylan Brewer on base at one point.
The third time through for Clemson’s star outfielder in the lineup put the first runs on the board.
With the largely South Carolina-partisan crowd up and loud and Gamecocks ace Eli Jones coming right after him, Cam Cannarella faced two strikes with two Tigers on – and he rifled his second double of the game over the Gamecock left fielder’s head and to the wall to score both runners.
Tippett answered with a shot to left field in the top of the fifth for his first home run of the season, a solo homer. Brewer was caught stealing, and Smith tallied his ninth strikeout of the game to get out of the inning.
Smith was pulled after a strong five innings, allowing only three hits with one walk and three hit batters. Lefty reliever Ethan Darden worked into some trouble in his first frame, but with two out and runners on the corners, Ciufo made an outstanding diving stop and throw to keep the score the same.
The Tigers had a chance add some insurance in the bottom of the sixth inning, loading the bases with two out for Blake Wright, but Wright smoked one right to the South Carolina second baseman. That ran up Clemson’s tally to ten left on base for the game.
A two-out walk put two Gamecocks on in the eighth, but Darden worked his second strikeout to keep a run of 8 1/3 scoreless innings of relief going, which ended the next inning.
Clemson’s bats rewarded the effort with insurance in the bottom half of the inning, where Nolan Nawrocki reached on a single and Jacob Hinderleider hit a no-doubt, two-run homer to left field to make it 4-1.
Cannarella was joined in multi-hit games for the Tigers by Mathes, Ciufo, Nawrocki and Hinderleider.
The Tigers and Gamecocks wrap this portion of the season’s series on Sunday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium (2 p.m./ACCNX). The rescheduling date of the finale at Founders Park in Columbia is to be determined after a rainout on Friday.
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