Clemson Beats Cincinnati 5-2, Clinching Weekend Series for Tigers
CLEMSON - Two games into the season, and the Clemson pitching staff looks to be every bit as strong as head coach Monte Lee proclaimed.
For the second consecutive day, the Tigers used a strong start, this time from freshman Ty Olenchuk, as Clemson downed Cincinnati 5-2 to clinch the opening weekend series.
"Coming in I was a little nervous, not going to lie," Olenchuk said. "First start, first outing, playing in Clemson, but after the first pitch, I think I threw a ball up, the second pitch was in the zone, and from there it just took off, you know, I was very confident after that one, arm felt good."
Olenchuk was impressive in his first career start, going 4.2 innings while allowing just two hits and striking out three. The youngster had complete control of the strike zone in his collegiate debut.
"I don't know if I could have asked for more out of Ty Olenchuk in his first career start," Monte Lee said afterward. "He was calm, he was cool and collected, but he's also a very, very intense competitor. I thought he did an outstanding job."
Clemson took an early 1-0 lead when freshman Blake Wright scored on a fielder's choice by Elijah Henderson. The score would remain that way until the fifth when the Tigers loaded the bases with no outs. Bryce Teodosio had an RBI single, Blake Wright drew a walk, forcing in a run, and then Dylan Brewer had a sacrifice fly that plated Caden Grice, giving Clemson a 4-0 lead heading into the sixth.
The Bearcats would add a single run in the sixth on a Paulk Komistek solo home run off of reliever Evan Estridge, and then another run in the seventh on a Griffin Merritt RBI double. Estridge would allow two runs on three hits in relief of Olenchuk.
Rashesh Pandya pitched one inning of scoreless relief before closer Geoffrey Gilbert came on in the eighth to pitch the final two innings and pick up his first save of the season..
Player of the Game: Olenchuk looked like anything but a freshman making his first career start. He was in command of his pitches and pounded the strike zone, throughout.
"First time through the order, seven out of nine guys, he threw a first-pitch strike too," Lee said. "So very, very proud of him there. I thought he did a great job."
Stat of the Game: Only 18 of Olenchuk's 61 pitches were balls.
Injury Report: Once again, catcher Adam Hackenberg, Sam Hall, outfielder Kier Meredith, infielder Chad Fairey, pitcher Keyshawn Askew, and catcher Cooper Ingle were out injured.
"We are banged up, I mean we've got we've got a fairly long list of guys that are not available to play due to injury," Lee said. "But my guys show up every day and compete, work hard, and they're ready to go. And they're gonna do whatever is asked of them to help us win a ballgame and that's what they've done. It's a selfless group, it's a competitive group, they pull for each other."
Up Next: Clemson host Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. in the finale of a three-game weekend series.
"We just got to do a good job of understanding how important every one of these 50 games is," Lee said. "We won the series in two games, but we got a big game tomorrow. Tomorrow's the biggest game on the schedule, that's gonna be the message tomorrow when we meet pregame. Every one of these are important and they all count."