Clemson got superb pitching from Sam Weatherly Friday night in a 7-1 win over USC in the weekend series opener. No surprise there. What was surprising, the three, two-run homers in consecutive innings the Tigers hit off Gamecock ace Carmen Mlodzinski. Dylan Brewer, Davis Sharpe and Kier Meredith delivered the power for a team that had just 2 homers in their first 8 games.
Inside the Clemson win over USC in game one
- Weatherly pitched 7 no-hit innings to earn his second win of the season. He threw 104 pitches, struck out 11, walked 3 and hit one batter. He lowered his ERA to 0.53.
- Bryce Teodosio saved Weatherly’s clean hit sheet when he made a catch while crashing into the centerfield wall to end the seventh. Teodosio was shaken up and had to leave the game. His status moving forward was not known as of Friday night.
- Geoffrey Gilbert finished up for Clemson and lost the no-hit in the 9th with a lead-off homer by Brady Allen.
- The freshman Brewer hit his first career home run in the 4th to put the Tigers on the board 2-0. Sharpe followed with his blast in the 5th and Meredith, who was a triple short of the cycle, added the last big fly in the 6th.
- Mlodzinski, who came into the game with a 0.64 ERA, left too many pitches up in the zone and the Clemson hitters took advantage. He allowed career highs of 10 hits and 6 runs over 6 innings. He struck out 8 and walked 1.
- With Allen’s 9th inning homer, the Gamecocks avoided being no-hit for the first time since 1990, and for only the second time by the Tigers who turned the trick with the late Billy O’Dell in 1954.
- Game two of the series will be at 3:00 PM Saturday at Segra Park in Columbia. USC will be the visiting team and will start righthander Thomas Farr (1-0 3.86 ERA). Clemson will start righthander Davis Sharpe (1-0 0.00 ERA).
- Box Score
Clemson postgame interviews
Monte Lee
Sam Weatherly
USC postgame interviews
Mark Kingston
Carmen Mlodzinski and Noah Campbell
