'Maturity' On Display as Freshman Billy Barlow Notches First Career Win Against Georgia

CLEMSON, S.C.- Billy Barlow is helping Monte Lee find some of the consistency he was looking for in his starting rotation this season.

Halfway through the season, Barlow has anchored the midweek spot in the rotation. On Tuesday night, with No. 13 Georgia in town and the Tigers in desperate need of a win, the freshman pitcher stepped up and delivered arguably his best performance of the season.

Barlow went five solid innings in Clemson's 4-3 win, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out five.

"My fastball was working very well," Barlow said after the win. "I knew if I just filled the strike zone and let them hit the ball, make my defense work, I knew that I would be good. And that's what I did. I trusted it and it worked out very well."

It was Barlow's seventh start of the season, the first win of his young career, and according to Lee, a performance that showed just how far the freshman has come in a short amount of time.

"I think that maturity showed tonight," Lee said. "He threw a few changeups and it's been a big part of his development. We needed to develop a third pitch."

The five innings Barlow threw against the Bulldogs was his second-longest outing of the season. The freshman went six innings earlier in the season in a neutral site win over Michigan State.

After giving up 10 earned runs in his previous three starts, and with the Tigers having dropped nine of their past 13 games coming in, the performance against Georgia came at an opportune time.

"He threw some good breaking balls and he punched out some guys," Lee said. "Felt that was the great thing about tonight. He had five punchouts in five innings. Pitched in, ran some fastballs up and in on some of their left-handed hitters and executed some pitches inside with two strikes, which I thought was really big for Billy. He was phenomenal."

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