Clemson’s Win Over No. 10 Georgia is What the Doctor Ordered

CLEMSON, S.C. — It has been a long time since Clemson beat Georgia on the baseball diamond, but as Tigers’ head coach Monte Lee so eloquently stated on Tuesday night, “We had their number tonight, so how about that.”

Clemson ended a six-game losing streak to the 10th-ranked Bulldogs thanks to home runs from Cooper Ingle, Blake Wright and Max Wagner and a solid pitching performance from freshman Billy Barlow. The Tigers’ 4-3 victory at Doug Kingsmore Stadium was its first over Georgia since a season-series sweep in 2017.

“All I know is, in the game of baseball, it is not the best team that wins, it is the team that plays the best,” Lee said. “I thought we played better baseball tonight. Certainly, a big win for us and one against a really good club.

“I just thought we played a good baseball game.”

The win over Georgia also snapped Clemson’s two-game losing streak and was its first win over a top 10 this season. The Bulldogs (22-7) had won four straight games and were coming off a weekend sweep of Florida.

“It’s absolutely huge because we had the tough series loss (to NC State),” Wright said. “We got some big weekends ahead and I think it builds a little bit of confidence, especially if we are going to carry all of this momentum into this weekend. Hopefully, carry it into the next and the next and just keep it rolling.”

Momentum is something Clemson (19-9) has not had much of lately. After starting the year 14-0, the Tigers are just 5-9 since.

With a road series at No. 13 Notre Dame (17-5, 5-4 ACC) this weekend, their win over Georgia is huge for the team’s psyche.

“It was just good to see us play a complete baseball game, against a really good club and find a way to win,” Lee said.

Clemson’s three-game series at Notre Dame will begin Friday. First pitch in Game 1 from South Bend, Indiana is set for 5 p.m.