Clemson left 16 runners on base in dropping the doubleheader opener to Duke on Saturday. (Clemson athletics photo)

by TigerNet Staff - Sat Mar 18 16:21:50 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON, S.C. – Five Duke pitchers combined to allow only two of 20 baserunners to score in its 3-2 victory over Clemson in the first game of a doubleheader at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Devils, who took a 1-0 lead in the series, improved to 12-6 overall and 2-2 in the ACC, while the Tigers, who saw their six-game winning streak come to an end, fell to 11-7 overall and 0-1 in ACC play.

Charlie Beilenson (1-1) earned the win in relief by tossing 1.1 scoreless innings, then James Fallon pitched the final 1.2 innings to record his third save of the year. Tiger starter Austin Gordon (0-1) suffered the loss, as he gave up four hits, three runs and no walks with six strikeouts in a career-high 6.0 innings pitched.

After Cooper Ingle extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a single, Riley Bertram’s bases-loaded walk with two outs in the first inning scored the game’s first run, then Nathan Hall grounded a run-scoring single in the fourth inning to double Clemson’s lead. Andrew Fischer led off the fifth inning with a homer to put Duke on the scoreboard. Later in the inning with two outs, Giovanni DiGiacomo hit an opposite-field, two-run homer to give Duke the lead.

Clemson was limited to hitting .182 with runners on and .071 with runners in scoring position, including with having runners on the corners with one out in the ninth inning.

The series continues with the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday at approximately 5:15 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.