Tiger bats warm up to stop streak, rout No. 23 Miami in series finale

Wagner hit a two-run homer to take the team lead with five. (Photo via Clemson baseball Twitter)

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Sun Mar 20 16:24:15 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON - Tigers head baseball coach Monte Lee was looking for one good inning to settle his team in the midst of the longest and only losing streak of Clemson’s 2022 season.

First, his team was looking for a lead on the weekend against Miami, ranked as high as No. 23 nationally, and No. 15-ranked Clemson (15-4, 1-2 ACC) achieved both goals in the early going Sunday -- and tacked on a lot more later -- in a 20-5 win over the Hurricanes (13-6, 2-1), breaking a four-game losing run.

On a 4-for-6 day at the plate overall, Tigers shortstop Benjamin Blackwell sent Miami starter Alex McFarlane’s first offering over the left field wall to take a 1-0 lead.

After doubling that edge in the second, Clemson broke through for that much-anticipated big inning in the third.

Caden Grice started the run-producing hits by sneaking an RBI single through the right side of the infield, then Dylan Brewer dropped one just in front of the Hurricanes left fielder for an RBI and Blackwell helped break things open with a two-run, opposite-field single for his third and fourth RBIs of the game. By the end of the frame, Clemson brought home six runs with five hits, scoring two on wild pitches. McFarlane (2-1) was tagged with his first loss of the season after surrendering five runs (four earned) on six hits in 2 1/3 innings.

Clemson entered the game 3-for-30 hitting with runners on and 0-for-16 with runners in scoring position against Miami on the weekend, but after three innings, the Tigers were 5-for-9 with runners on and 2-of-3 with runners in scoring position. Clemson had 12 hits in the first two games and tallied 13 hits through five frames Sunday.

"Hitting is contagious. Offense is a momentum-driven thing," Lee said. "I thought Blackwell leading the game off with a home run kind of ingnited the guys a little bit. I've said this before -- when you're standing on deck and the guy before you has success, it just feeds more success to the next guy and the next guy and that's how offenses go. Oftentimes, you score more runs in one inning in baseball than the other team scores the whole game. So big-inning baseball is critical, and for us, we're really good when we score first...

"I was proud of the fact that our guys kept putting together good at-bats after that. Sometimes you can lose your focus a little bit when you get a big lead and I thought we did a really good job of continuing to put together good at-bats after that."

An inning later, Max Wagner sent a no-doubter over the left field wall for two more runs and an out-right team lead in home runs (5).

In the fifth, the innings scoring streak continued with another two-run shot off of Tyler Corbitt’s bat and a 12-2 lead.

Tigers right-handed starter Nick Clayton fell an out short of getting his first winning decision of the season, scattering three hits over 4 2/3 innings with two runs (one earned), two strikeouts and two strikeouts. Jackson Lindley improved to 4-0 on the season with a 1 1/3 scoreless innings pitched.

The Hurricanes cut into the lead with a three-run homer from Yohandy Morales in the seventh off of reliever Rocco Reid.

The Tigers answered in the eighth with another crooked number -- this time with eight runs, aided by a two-run shot from Dylan Brewer to build the lead back to 10 runs. Blackwell tacked on his fifth RBI later in the inning. Corbitt hit his second two-run homer and Wagner knocked in two on a single to each reach four RBIs.

The Tigers totaled 20 hits on the day.

Clemson returns to action on Tuesday at home versus Coastal Carolina on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

One pitch, one run. #BenjaminBlackwell ??

?? 395 ft
?? 103 mph

B1 || MIA 0, CU 1

?? https://t.co/uSx1R2wvLU pic.twitter.com/Xkx5FMa7IT
— Clemson Baseball (@ClemsonBaseball) March 20, 2022

123 inning for @Nclayton07 thanks in large part to this #SCTop10 play by @tylercorbitt5! #D1Top10 ?? ??

M2 || MIA 0, CU 1

?? https://t.co/uSx1R2wvLU pic.twitter.com/9mW04sxTwF
— Clemson Baseball (@ClemsonBaseball) March 20, 2022

Got all of that one for his team-leading fifth homer of the year! ??@mdwagz9

?? 387 ft
?? 99 mph

B4 || MIA 1, CU 10

?? https://t.co/uSx1R2wvLU pic.twitter.com/VXY8bXOdvm
— Clemson Baseball (@ClemsonBaseball) March 20, 2022