Tigers Even Up Series With 9-5 Win Over Florida State
After dropping the series opener and badly in need of a win, Monte Lee's Tigers bounced back in game two on Saturday, knocking off No. 17 Florida State 9-5 and snapping a nine game losing streak on the road in the process.
Clemson jumped on the Seminoles early, taking a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. James Parker drove in two with a double and Bryar Hawkins added an RBI single.
Florida State would strike back with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning on a solo homerun by Logan Lacy.
The score would remain that way until the fifth when the Seminoles loaded up the bases. Keyshawn Askew was one strike away from getting out of the inning, but on a 1-2 pitch, Elijah Cabell launched a deep homerun to center giving Florida State a 5-3 lead, ending Askew's day.
"I mean we scored early in the first inning, scored three runs which is big for us," Lee said afterwards. "And then they delivered a huge blow, you know, two outs, two strikes, grand slam to put them up two."
Askew would finish the day having allowed 5 runs on 6 hits, while striking out 8 in 4.2 innings of work.
The Tigers would come right back in the sixth. After a Hawkins single with one out, Dylan Brewer and Jonathan French drew back-to-back walks, loading the bases. Two passed balls would tie the game at 5-5.
Clemson would add three more runs in the seventh on RBI singles by Caden Grice and French along with a bases loaded walk to Bryce Teodosio, giving the Tigers an 8-5 lead.
The Tigers added an insurance run in the eighth when Grice launched a 430-foot homerun to left, giving Clemson the 9-5 lead. The freshman now has 13 long balls on the season.
"Our guys just kept plugging away," Lee said. "We got a couple free runs with some passed balls and then Caden stepped up with a big home run late, Jonathan French had a big at bat, Bryce Theodosia had a walk, so we were able to put together two big innings."
Davis Sharpe had another solid outing out of the pen, throwing 4.1 innings of scoreless baseball in relief of Askew, striking out eight and walking just two in picking up his third win of the season.
"In my mind the story of the day was Davis Sharpe," Lee said. "He's the reason we won this ballgame, he was absolutely phenomenal for us out of the bullpen."
Player of the Game: Davis Sharpe came on and got the win (3-1) as he shut the Seminoles down at a crucial time in the game. The third-year player struck out eight of the 19 hitters he faced.
Stat of the Game: Askew and Sharpe combined to strike out 16 Florida State hitters on the day.
Up Next: The rubber match between the two teams is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday and will be televised on ACCNX.