CLEMSON BASEBALL

Tigers pile on late to beat Bison and win game one of Clemson Regional
Will Taylor slides in for an early run against the Bison (Photo by Merrell Mann).

Tigers pile on late to beat Bison and win game one of Clemson Regional


by - Senior Writer -

CLEMSON – Lipscomb provided a tough out for Clemson Friday afternoon, but the Tigers found a way to win on a hot day against a determined opponent.

No. 4 national seed Clemson overcame Lipscomb’s power display with execution and small ball at the right times -- and a grand slam in the eighth -- in defeating the Bison 12-5 in game one of the Clemson Regional Friday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

Caden Grice was 2-for-2, homered, and drove in three runs while Billy Amick hit a grand slam in the eighth to seal the victory.

Clemson has won 17 in a row and improves to 44-17 on the season. Lipscomb (36-25) will play the loser of tonight’s Charlotte and Tennessee game at noon tomorrow in an elimination game. Clemson will face the winner of that game at 6 pm Saturday evening.

The Tigers jumped on top of the Bison early. Cooper Ingle sliced a 1-2 pitch into left for a single, and Grice followed that with a long homer to right-center – over the grandstand – for a 2-0 lead. The homer was the 17th of the season for Grice.

Lipscomb didn’t flinch. A single, a balk, and a sharp single to left score the first run for the Bison in the top of the second, and an inning later they used two singles and a sacrifice fly to tie the score at 2-2.

Clemson jumped back in front in the bottom of the frame. Ingle and Grice were each hit by a pitch and both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Amick drove a sacrifice fly deep to right to score Ingle for a 3-2 lead.

The Bison chased Clemson starter Austin Gordon in the top of the fifth. Caleb Ketchup and Alex Vergara each hit long homers to left – Vergara’s was listed at 455 feet – to lead off the bottom of the frame and Gordon was pulled in favor of Nick Clayton with Lipscomb leading 4-3. Gordon pitched 4 1/3 innings, giving up four runs, all earned, on six hits. He walked one and struck out six.

The Tigers came roaring back in the bottom of the fifth. Cam Cannarella worked a 3-2 count, and after striking out on breaking balls in his first two at-bats, lined one hard up the middle for a leadoff single. Ingle bounced one to second that was mishandled for an error, and Will Taylor laid a perfect bunt down the third base line to load the bases.

Grice hit a fly to medium left that scored Cannarella with the tying run, and after Billy Amick flew out for the second out, Riley Bertram waited on a fastball and stroked it into the gap in left-center to score both runners for a 6-4 Tiger lead.

Vergara once again went deep to left in the sixth to make it 6-5 Clemson after six innings. Lipscomb starter Logan Van Treeck was done after six solid innings. He gave up six runs (four earned) on seven hits while walking one and striking out seven.

The Tigers played small ball to extend the lead in the seventh. Grice doubled to the right side with one out, and he stole third. Amick walked to put runners at the corners and Erik Bakich called timeout to talk to his runners. That brought Bertram, who handles the bat really well, to the plate and he put down a beautiful bunt that scored Grice to make it 7-5.

Blackwell singled to lead off the eighth and was moved to second on pinch-hitter Mac Starbuck’s bunt. Ingle singled with two out to score Blackwell to make it 8-5, and Taylor and Grice walked to load the bases for Amick. Amick worked the count to 2-0 and then launched a high fly that landed midway up the roof of the batting cages in right-center for the grand slam and a 12-5. It was his 13th homer of the season.

Nick Clayton (8-0) picked up the win in relief.


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