Clemson baseball loses 9th inning lead and series to Blue Devils

Clemson baseball had a chance to take the series against the Duke Blue Devils on Sunday and finish the week a strong 3-1, but it was not to be as the bullpen imploded down the stretch and the Tigers finished the week at 2-2.

On Tuesday, Clemson rallied past the College of Charleston after trailing 3-1 heading into the bottom of the 8th.  A Riley Bertram single up the middle brought the tying run to the plate, but it also brought in one of the better closers in the nation, William Privette.

Privette retired Blake Wright on a liner to right, but then walked Cam Cannarella to bring up Cooper Ingle with two on and one out.

Ingle promptly laced a double to left center that scored Bertram and put Cannarella on third with the tying run.

Will Taylor then singled to second scoring Cannarella and the second baseman’s wild throw also allowed Ingle to score the go-ahead run in the Tigers 4-3 win.

Jackson Lindley was able to earn his second save of the season with the help of replay that sent a Cougar runner back to third with two outs.

The bullpen, once again did a fine job keeping the Tigers in the game, throwing 6.2 innings and allowing 2 runs.

Duke ended the Tigers winning streak in game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader as the Blue Devils scored all three runs on home runs and the Tigers left an incredible 16 mean on base and going 1-14 with runners in scoring position in the 3-2 loss.

Austin Gordon (0-1) was the hard luck loser, going 6 innings, allowing only 4 hits, striking out 6 and walking 0.

Game 2 turned into a slugfest that Clemson won, 14-9 behind the second 5-hit game in 8 days by Cam Cannarella and home runs from Caden Grice and Jacob Jarrell.

The Tigers scored in each of the first five innings and got just enough out of the bullpen to hold off the power hitting Blue Devils.

Casey Tallent (1-0) picked up the win and Nick Hoffman got the save and saved most of the bullpen for Sunday with a 4.2 inning save.

The bullpen failed Clemson baseball on Sunday, giving up 7 runs in the last two innings

Sunday’s rubber match was also frenetic, with the teams trading punches and leads with Duke eventually pulling it out with 7 runs in the last two innings, including 5 in the 9th with Clemson 3 outs away from a series win.

The Tigers, 12-8 overall and 1-2 in the ACC, have a 5 game week ahead, hosting Winthrop on Tuesday, travelling to Kennesaw State on Wednesday and playing Georgia Tech in Atlanta next weekend.