Tigers top Cardinals to clinch fifth consecutive ACC series win

Clemson clinched its fifth ACC series in a row.

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Sat May 06 17:10:27 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – A strong start by Austin Gordon and patience at the plate propelled Clemson to its fifth consecutive ACC series win with a 4-3 win over Louisville Saturday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

Tiger batters worked six total walks on the day, including four in the seventh inning that scored two runs and gave Clemson the lead for good.

No. 18 Clemson improved to 30-17 overall and 13-10 in the ACC, while No. 22 Louisville fell to 29-17 and 9-14.

Gordon had arguably the best start of his career in the win as he pitched six complete innings and gave up just one hit in 91 total pitches. He struck out five and walked just one batter. It was just the first time in Gordon’s career that he gave up a single hit when pitching more than three innings.

Riley Bertram finished the day with three hits, two stolen bases, and a run scored. Six of Clemson’s starters notched a hit in the game.

Rob Hughes picked up the save getting all three outs in the ninth inning after coming on in relieve of Tristan Smith with a runner on first and nobody out.

Carson Liggett – the Cards’ starting pitcher – went just four innings. He gave up one run on four hits, walked two, and struck out two. He threw 75 total pitches – 43 for strikes.

Bertram roped a single into center field to lead off the fourth inning for Clemson. He advanced to second a hit-and-run with Blake Wright, who was thrown out at first for the first out. He then stole third and scored on a wild pitch to give Clemson a 1-0 lead after four innings.

Nick Clayton came on in the seventh in relief of Gordon and gave up a leadoff home run to Ryan McCoy on the fifth pitch of the at-bat to tie the game at 1-1.

Jack Crighton led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk. Cannarella singled to center to put runners on the corners with nobody out.

Louisville’s Riley Phillips pitched the previous two innings but was pulled in favor of Tate Kuehner after putting the first two batters on.

After the pitching change, the next three batters – Cooper Ingle, Will Taylor, and Caden Grice – all walked. Ingle’s base on balls loaded the bases, and the walks by Taylor and Grice allowed two runs to score. Billy Amick hit a deep fly ball to center to plate Ingle and give Clemson a 4-1 lead after seven innings.

Clemson was forced to make a pitching change with one out in the eighth inning.

Clayton got the first out of the inning, but back-to-back walks and a sharply hit single to left loaded the bases, and Clayton’s day was done as he was replaced by freshman Tristan Smith.

Smith gave up a six-pitch walk to plate Louisville’s first run of the inning. A high-chopper to second scored the second to cut the Tigers’ lead to 4-3 in the eighth inning.

The series concludes Sunday at noon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.