Baseball
FAIREY & BREWER BUST SLUMPS, CLEMSON CRUSHES HARTFORD 41-6 IN SATURDAY DOUBLEHEADER
- 2022-02-27 18:02:26
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CLEMSON, SC - Wow, what an offensive explosion by the Tigers on Saturday! It began with a 1:00 start for Nick Clayton, who performed much better than his first outing last Saturday against Indiana. He did allow 2 runs and 6 hits in 4 innings, but he struck out 6 and waked just one, so it was an improvement. The bull pen was once again outstanding, as Olenchuk and Reid combined to allow just one run and 5 hits with no walks in 5 innings. Sophomore Ty Olenchuk earned his second career win and first of the season.
Offensively, the Tigers had a field day. The game was close early on, as the Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st thanks to a clutch 2-out single by Hawkins to score Corbitt and Ingle. Fairey ended the inning with a strike out, dropping his average to .143 on the season, but he would soon break out of his slump in a big way. Meanwhile, Hartford tied the game in the top of the 2nd with a pair of 2-out singles off Clayton. The Tigers responded in the bottom half when Wright, Blackwell and Brewer all walked to start the inning, two of them on full count. Corbitt drove in a run with a sac fly, but Brewer was doubled up on the play with a base-running error, and that would prevent the Tigers from scoring more in the inning.
With the score 3-2, the Tigers loaded the bases with no outs again in the 5th, and the coldest hitter on the team, Chad Fairey was at the plate. It was the perfect time for him to break out of his slump, and that's exactly what he did! He made it 4-2 with an RBI single, and the Tigers would score another run on a catcher's interference call. Leadoff man Dylan Brewer, who was also batting below .200 on the season, popped up with one out and the bases loaded, but he too would break out of his slump soon.
The Tigers busted the game open in the 6th inning, scoring 4 more runs with RBI's by Hawkins and Wagner, followed by a 2-run HR by Fairey. And that wouldn't be all for Fairey on Saturday, either. He hit another bases-loaded single for 2 RBI's to start the scoring in the 7th. He had just 2 hits and one RBI on the season before the 5th inning and now had 3 hits, 5 RBI's and his first HR of the season in 3 consecutive innings! Pinch-hitter Mac Starbuck drove in another run, and Brewer finally broke out of his slump with a 2-out RBI single! The Tigers scored 4 runs for a second straight inning in the 7th to take a 13-2 lead. Reid gave up a run on a wild pitch with 2 outs in the 9th to make the final score 13-3. The Tigers had 15 hits and 10 walks with just 5 strike outs. The only negative was that Grice's 3-game HR streak came to an end, and his average dropped from .471 to .381. He was 0-4 but did have 2 more walks.
As impressive of a performance as it was for the Tigers in the first game on Saturday, the fireworks hadn't even begun! The third game of the series on Saturday night became a piece of Clemson history, as the Tigers scored in every inning and put up a whopping 28 runs, winning 28-3! It looked like a typical football score for the Tigers last season. Ingle went 3-5 with 6 RBI's and is batting .481 this season! Wagner was 4-6 with a HR and 5 RBI's. He is batting .500! Hawkins also homered for the second straight day, going 3-5 with 4 RBI's. Blackwell was 3-4 with 4 RBI's as well. Grice broke out of his one-game slump, going 2-5 with 2 more walks, giving him 11 in 7 games. Poor French, batting .214, can't seem to get a break. He crushed a ball to the fence in dead center field for an out and went just 1-5 after sitting out the first game on Saturday. But he did have an RBI double. The Tigers have 7 starters batting over .300 on the season, with two batting over .480. And with 3 wins by double digits already, they have been able to play many freshman and backups, who have produced. Amick was 2-2 on Saturday, and Mac Starbuck is 3-4 on the season with a couple RBI's on Saturday, including an RBI triple. Troyer had a double for 2 RBI's. He and Troyer are each 1-3 this season.
The story of the game was the offense, but Nick Hoffmann also had a good outing on the mound in his second start, picking up his first win of the season. He gave up just 3 hits and 2 runs in 5 innings, striking out 6 with one walk. The bull pen was once again outstanding. Lindley, Labriola, Edmondson and Ammons each pitched an inning, combining for just 4 hits and one run, striking out 11 with no walks!
The cavalcade of runs obviously made it a historic day for the Tigers. It was the most runs they have scored in a game since 1979 and the most hits (25) since 2006. They also only struck out 5 times in each game. But for me, the big storyline of the day was Fairey and Brewer--two every day starters--breaking out of their slumps. I documented Fairey's performance in the first game, and he was 1-2 with a walk in the second game. He is now batting .300 on the season, more than doubling what it was halfway through the first game on Saturday! He and Brewer each had 4 hits on Saturday. Brewer was 3-5 with an RBI in the second game. He had just 4 hits this season before Saturday and matched that total in the doubleheader! The Tigers couldn't be playing much better on both sides than they are right now, and that bodes well with their huge annual Palmetto Series next weekend! Hopefully they will be able to keep the momentum going against USC Upstate at home on Tuesday. Then they play the Gamecocks in Columbia on Friday and Saturday before hosting them on Sunday. Look for the Tigers to crack the rankings this week with their impressive 7-0 start!
Post-game interviews are below!
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