Baseball
WRIGHT HOMERS TWICE AND NO.6 CLEMSON CONTINUES SCORING IN DROVES IN 14-7 WIN OVER UNC
- 2023-05-19 12:10:25
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CLEMSON, SC - The hottest team in America continued its hit parade on a rainy Thursday night against UNC to open the last series of the regular season. The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st on a 2-out HR by Grice, his 12th of the season. They added 4 more runs in the 2nd on 5 consecutive 2-out hits, very similar to what they did up at VA Tech last week.
The Heels made it a 6-2 game with a 2-run HR off Darden in the 4th, and they added a run in the 5th on a 2-out single off Clayton. But the Tigers responded in the bottom half with a leadoff HR by Amick to make it 7-3. It was his 11th HR of the season and 5th in the last 9 games. The Tigers scored 5 runs in the 6th, including a 2-run HR by Wright, to make it 12-3. Wright hit another 2-out HR with 2 outs in the 8th, his 7th of the season and first 2-HR game since the season opener, to make it 14-3, but since the ACC doesn't use the run rule for conference games, the game would continue on to the 9th.
The bullpen had some problems closing the books on the Heels, and it began to feel a little like the crazy 9-8 game in Blacksburg last week, when the Tigers almost blew a 5-run lead in the 9th. Tallent gave up a double and a single to start the inning, so Hoffmann came in from the pen. After striking out his first batter, he gave up a single to make it 14-4. After getting a run-scoring grounder for the second out to make it 14-5, an error by Wright made it 14-6. A 2-out single made it 14-7, and Hoffmann gave up 2 more singles to load the bases. However, Rocco Reid came in from the pen and got a strike out looking to end the game.
Wright was 3-4 with 2 HR's, a walk and 5 RBI's. I mentioned to Bakich at the end of the Louisville series that it looked as if Wright had broken out of his slump, and that is certainly the case now! Amick and Taylor remained red-hot as well. Amick was 4-5 with his 5th HR in 9 games and 3 RBI's. He is 17 for his last 27 with 3 HR's, 5 doubles and 17 RBI's. Taylor was 3-5 and is 20 for his last 33 with 2 HR's, 3 doubles and 8 RBI's. Grice went 2-5 with a 2-run HR, and Ingle was 2-3 with a double, 2 walks and an RBI. He has reached base in 48 straight games. The Tigers tallied 19 hits, 4 HR's and 5 walks! There isn't a single hole in their lineup right now, and even the backups are hitting. They have been hitting with 2-outs at an astounding clip, about .500 over the past 5 games. In fact, their first 6 runs tonight were all scored with 2 outs. They have averaged 12 runs over their last 6 games, winning 10 straight and 15 of their last 16! It's a shame the NCAA Tournament didn't begin a few weeks ago because the Tigers would have won the national title if it had. Let's hope they haven't peaked too early!
The Tigers will look to make it 11 straight and clinch their 7th straight ACC series on Friday at 6:00. Our post-game interviews are below!
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