Clemson Bats Come To Life In 12-5 Win Over BC
CLEMSON — Through the season's first 13 games, Clemson has had to rely on their strong pitching, while the bats have been slow to get going.
On Saturday, with starting pitcher Davis Sharpe not having his best stuff, the Tigers needed the bats to step up, and that is exactly what happened.
Clemson pounded out 14 hits on the day and beat Boston College 12-5 in Doug Kingsmore Stadium, clinching their first ACC series of the season.
"(Hitting) certainly is contagious," head coach Monte Lee said. "I think when you got those guys at the top of the order getting on base, and you get that momentum going there in the first, and then we answered (in the fourth). That has been the biggest thing holding us up in my opinion."
The offense got going early, plating two runs in the first inning off a Bryar Hawkins two-run home run, and then two more in the second for a 4-0 lead. BC stormed back with a run in the third, and three more in the fourth, to tie it up at four.
"We drove the baseball the first time through the order," Lee said. " And I think that's what really got us going the rest of the ballgame."
Clemson blew it open in the bottom of the fourth, however, pushing across four runs for an 8-4 lead.
Elijah Henderson, Bo Majkowski, Adam Hackenberg, and Chad Fairey all had multi-hit games for the Tigers. Fairey helped lead the the way with three hits, and Henderson led the team with four RBI.
Sharpe lasted four innings, allowing four runs on six hits, with one walk and four strikeouts. Carter Raffield came on in the fifth, going 2.2 innings and giving up a run on four hits, with a walk and a strikeout, in picking up the first win of his career.
"Sharpe wasn't at his best," Lee said. "Our bullpen was outstanding. Raffield did a great job, and Hoffman. Both those guys pounded the strike zone and did a nice job."
Key play: BC second basemen Luke Gold dropped a pop fly off the bat of Sam Hall with two outs in the bottom of the fourth and the game tied at 4. Fairey scored, and instead of the inning being over, the Tigers scored four runs in the inning to take an 8-4 lead.
Player of the game: Fairey, who came in hitless in 15 at bats, went 3-for-5 on the day. He had an opposite field solo shot in the second and scored three runs on the day.
"I just went with the pitch," Fairey said of his first inning home run. "It was a pitch high and away, and it was a good pitch to drive that way."
Coach's decision: Lee went to Raffield in relief of Sharpe after the fourth. After the Tigers had just extended the lead to four runs, Lee wasn't giving Sharpe the chance to give up a four-run lead again.
Up next: The series finale takes place tomorrow at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, with first pitch at 1 p.m. on the ACC Network Extra.
