Tigers crush No. 8 Coastal to complete season sweep
Billy Amick’s two-out single in the first inning put Clemson ahead 1-0, then Derek Bender led off the second inning with a home run. In the third inning, the Tigers exploded for seven runs. A line drive off the bat of Caden Grice was misplayed and two runs scored. After Benjamin Blackwell’s bases-loaded walk, Jacob Jarrell belted a grand slam, his fifth homer of the year, to give Clemson an 8-1 lead.
The Chanticleers scored on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, then Clemson answered with two unearned runs without a hit in the fifth inning, highlighted by Cam Cannarella’s sacrifice fly. Amick added a two-run homer, his ninth of the year, in the top of the sixth inning before Coastal Carolina scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Grice laced a solo homer, his 12th of the year, in the seventh inning and Coastal Carolina scored a run in the eighth inning.
Joe Allen (2-0) earned the win by pitching a scoreless third inning with two strikeouts. Bryce Shaffer (4-1) suffered the loss.
Clemson won the prior matchup in the season in Doug Kingsmore Stadium, 16-6, for the season series sweep.
Eyeing an NCAA Regional bid, Clemson improved to No. 11 in the RPI metric shortly after the game, after a top-15 win there over Coastal. The Tigers' non-conference strength of schedule improved to 15th and the overall strength of schedule is third-ranked. D1Baseball and Baseball America each had Clemson projected inside their respective top-13s for national seeds for a hosting bid.
The Tigers stay on the road to play at Virginia Tech in a three-game series, beginning Friday at 4 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
Source: TigerNet
