Baseball
CLEMSON WINS SERIES BUT CANNOT SWEEP WAKE; BYRD & DAVIDSON HR IN FINAL HOME GAME; TIGERS POOLED WITH BC & LOUISVILLE IN ACC TOURNAMENT
- 2019-05-18 19:01:55
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CLEMSON, SC - 14-5 is a tough way to end the season, especially at home, but the Tigers still won the Wake Forest series and 3 of 4 games this week. It's also encouraging that they went 3-0 in one-run games over the past week after going 3-10 on one run and extra-inning games previously. Wake is also a top-10 team in HR's and runs scored, so it all ind of came to a head today. The Tigers' bull pen has just been too inconsistent. The offense has been pretty good lately, and Clark and Hennessy looked good this weekend, but the middle relief is a big weakness right now. There hasn't been one consistent middle reliever over the last month. They have to find a guy or two to get them from the starter to Spiers.
Saturday was the final home game for all of the seniors and likely Logan Davidson, who figures to be a high MLB Draft pick this spring. One of the seniors, Grayson Byrd, tied Davidson for the team lead in HR's last night with his 14th. Davidson jumped back ahead in the 1st inning with his 15th of the season, and Byrd tied him again with his 15th in the 8th. Byrd has been on an unbelievable tear, hitting 10 HR's in the last 13 games. I don't think if even Beer hit that many in 13 games!
UVA just lost at VT, so we now know the Tigers will be the No.8 seed in Durham. They will play No.12 seed BC first, which is a nice draw, and No.1 seed Louisville next. As tough as the Cards are, the Tigers won 2 of 3 and should have swept them early in the season, so at least they know they can beat them. The Tigers lost the third game against the Cards in 11 innings but would have won in the 9th if Teo had been able to lay down the sac bunt. They also won 2 of 3 at BC and nearly swept that one as well, losing by one run on Sunday, 3-2. So the Tigers' pool is about as good as one could have hoped for as far as head-to-head this season. I'll have game times for you tomorrow.
Post-game interviews with Monte, Byrd and Davidson are below.
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