CLEMSON, SC - Two-way freshman phenom Caden Grice sat out Sunday's game against the Gamecocks after struggling with strike outs in consecutive games, and boy did it pay off! He hit his first 2 career HR's and drove in 3 in the Tigers' 7-3 win over ETSU on Tuesday, a team that handed the Tigers one of their 3 losses last season. Grice's first HR put the Tigers up 1-0 in the 3rd, but ETSU tied it in the 4th and took a 3-1 lead on a 2-out, 2-run HR in the 5th off of redshirt freshman Nick Clayton. The Tigers would rally to score in each of the next 3 innings, however.
Kier Meredith made his season debut, coming off a leg injury, and reached base 3 times with a double, scoring once out of the DH spot. He should play some outfield this weekend if not Friday, Monte told me after the game.
Raffield made his first start of the season and struck out 8 in 4 innings. Clayton picked up his first win out of the pen, and the Tigers' pitchers combined for 17 K's and just one walk! Closer Geoffrey Gilbert and Rob Hughes, who gave up critical late runs to the Gamecocks, both got in and responded well. After sitting out Sunday, Elijah Henderson finally got his first 2 hits of the season! Regan Reid continued to earn more playing time, coming up with 2 hits and a big RBI today in his first start after coming through with a 2-out RBI pinch-hit single on Sunday. Freshman Max Wagner hit his first career HR, a solo shot in the 5th.
The Tigers improve to 4-2 on the season and host Notre Dame this weekend to begin ACC play. I maintain that this is a top-15 team, especially if they can get healthy. Post-game interviews are below!
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