Tigers crush No. 8 Coastal to complete season sweep

Jacob Jarrell hit a grand slam in the third inning to put some distance between the teams in Conway. (Merrell Mann photo)

by TigerNet Staff - Wed May 10 21:33:52 GMT-04:00 2023

CONWAY, S.C. – No. 10 Clemson scored seven runs in the third inning on its way to a 13-6 victory over No. 8 Coastal Carolina at Springs Brooks Stadium on Wednesday night. The Tigers, who won both games of the home-and-home season series by a combined score of 29-12, improved to 32-17, while the Chanticleers fell to 30-17.

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.

.@ClemsonBaseball just scored runs during the third inning against Coastal Carolina pic.twitter.com/Npyno6u1SS
— Clemson Athletics (@ClemsonTigers) May 10, 2023