Tigers ride Beer, Krall to first win of the season

Krall went six innings in earning the win

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Feb 18 19:07:41 GMT-04:00 2017

CLEMSON – Clemson used the combination of Seth Beer's hitting and Pat Krall’s pitching to win 44 games last season, and that combo proved effective once again as the Tigers won game number one of the 2017 season Saturday.

Beer scored two runs, hit a three-run homer and scored twice and Krall pitched six strong innings in picking up the win as No. 10 Clemson evened the series with Wright St. in a 6-2 victory over the Raiders at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

The rubber match of the series is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.

Krall allowed just one unearned run, giving up two hits, walking three and striking out six. He threw 89 pitches, 59 for strikes.

The Tigers had just six hits, but walked seven times and reached on three Wright St. errors. Ryley Gilliam pitched the final two innings, giving up just one hit and striking out four, including the side in the ninth.

The Tigers got on the board early, scoring an unearned run in the bottom of the first. Chase Pinder reached on a one-out throwing error and advanced to second on the errant throw. He advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt and scored on Weston Jackson’s RBI groundout.

K.J. Bryant walked to lead off the bottom of the third and advanced to second on Pinder’s single through the left side. That brought up Beer, who laced a three-run shot over the center field wall on a 3-1 pitch for a 4-0 lead. It was the first homer of the season for the Georgia native, who hit 18 last season in winning national player of the year honors.

An error by Logan Davidson in the fifth led to Wright St.’s first run, but Krall struck out Zach Morrow with a runner in scoring position to end the threat. The Raiders added another unearned run in the seventh off of reliever Brooks Crawford after Kevin Whatley reached on a two-out catcher’s interference. Seth Gray lined a shot into left-center that bounced out of the glove of a diving Reed Rohlman, and Wright St. was within two at 4-2.

Clemson got the runs back in the bottom of the inning. Beer drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on a single by Jackson. Davidson continued his hot start with a RBI single to right, with Jackson advancing to third. Davidson stole second, and Rohlman walked to load the bases.

Grayson Byrd bounced into a fielder’s choice that scored Jackson for the second run of the inning and a 6-2 lead.