CLEMSON BASEBALL

Vols send Tigers to the loser's bracket in extra innings thriller
Cannarella homered in the fifth to give the Tigers the lead (Photo by Merrell Mann).

Vols send Tigers to the loser's bracket in extra innings thriller


by - Staff Writer -

CLEMSON – An evening of thrilling, edge-of-your-seat baseball ended in extra innings with Clemson on the losing end, and now the Tigers will have to win three games in a row to advance to a Super Regional.

Tennessee hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth to come back from a 4-2 deficit and then scored another run in the top of the 14th to defeat Clemson 6-5 in the Clemson Regional at Doug Kingsmore Stadium Saturday night.

Clemson fans were on their feet several times in the top of the ninth inning, expecting the Tigers to get that last out and go celebrate. However, Tennessee’s Zane Denton greeted reliever Ryan Ammons with a three-run homer to left.

Zane Denton hit a two-out, three-run homer in the top of the ninth to spoil Caden Grice’s fantastic pitching performance and Tennessee escaped into the winner’s bracket.

Tennessee will now await the winner of the elimination game between Clemson and Charlotte at noon tomorrow on ESPN (Clemson is the designated visiting team). The winner’s bracket game will be at 6 p.m. The winner of that game has to beat Tennessee twice to win the regional, while the Vols need to win just one.

The fourth-seeded Tigers drop to 44-18 while the Vols imrpove to 40-19 on the season. The loss broke Clemson’s 17-game winning streak.

Over 6,000 orange-clad fans showed up and showed out on a hot Saturday night. Caden Grice and Cam Cannerella rewarded the faithful by showing up and showing out, too.

Grice picked the perfect time for the best pitching performance of his career and Cannarella hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the fifth as Clemson seemed poised to send the Vols to the loser’s bracket. But it was Tennessee that made enough plays in the end to advance.

Grice pitched a career-high 8 2/3 innings, and was only removed after a two-out single in the ninth. Ryan Ammons came on and gave up the homer.

Clemson used 10 pitchers on the night while Tennessee used just three. It remains to be seen if the Tigers can muster enough pitching to win three games in a little 24 hours.

It was one of the largest crowds in recent memory – the fans sat on the hill behind the third-base line, packed the Chapman Grandstands and lined the railings down both sides of the field. They were engaged from the start as both teams played high-level postseason baseball.

Tennessee struck first in the top of the fourth when Christian Moore deposited a 1-2 pitch over the National Player of the Year sign in left centerfield for a 1-0 Vols’ lead.

An inning later, Clemson answered with a crooked number.

Benjamin Blackwell led off the fifth inning with a single on a hard-hit ball that the shortstop couldn’t handle and stole second. Jacob Jarrell slapped a singled to left field to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Cannarella launched his seventh homerun over right centerfield wall. It was only the 13th long ball given up by Chase Dollander this season.

Cannarella's outing did end earlier than most fielders, however, as he was ejected at the end of the 13th inning after the umps said he wasn't being sportsmanlike to the opposing team and Clemson already had a warning on them on the night. Cannarella will have to sit out the Sunday noon game due to the suspension as well, Clemson coach Erik Bakich confirmed.

Taylor hit a one-out single off the left field wall and scored on Grice’s double down the left field line to give Clemson a 4-0 lead after five innings.

Dollander was pulled after his 90th pitch – a ball to Grice in favor of sophomore Chase Burns. He pitched 4.1 innings giving up four runs -all earned – on seven hits. He struck out four and walked two.

Grice registered strikeout number 100 of the season when he fanned Hunter Ensley for the first out of the sixth inning.

Zane Denton scored the Vols second run of the day on a two-out solo shot to centerfield to cut Clemson’s lead to 4-2 in the seventh inning.


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spacer TNET: Vols send to Tigers to the loser's bracket in extra innings thriller
TigerNet News®
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Obed®
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ddraines®
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ddclemson
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ddraines®
spacer This one stings…***
Clemson_Orange
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greene®
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greene®
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CUALUM75
spacer Vols send to Tigers to the loser's bracket "
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