After hitting a season-high five homeruns on Friday, the Miami Hurricanes played a little small ball to defeat Clemson 10-2 on Saturday and claim their ACC weekend series. The loss; Clemson’s fifth straight, drops the Tigers into a fourth place tie in the ACC Atlantic Division standings with NC State. The Wolfpack pulled off a 5-2 win at Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon.
Clemson got off to a good start as Dylan Brewer deposited his sixth homerun of the season over the wall in right field to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. However, Miami responded as Christian Del Castillo homered to right field as well, tying the game at 1-1, going to the third.
The Tigers bounced right back to grab a 2-1 lead on the first homerun of the season from second baseman Sam Hall in the top of the third. However, that was the final time Clemson enjoyed the advantage as Miami quickly moved in front on three run scoring singles in the bottom of frame.
Yohandy Morales blasted a two-run homerun in the fifth inning to stretch the Hurricanes lead to 6-2, the final runs allowed by Clemson starter Keyshawn Askew. The redshirt sophomore worked five innings; allowing seven runs (five of them earned) on nine base hits with seven strikeouts.
The next two innings saw the Hurricanes unveil some fundamental baseball, scoring a run in the sixth on an RBI single; before plating three runs in the seventh on two sacrifice flies and an RBI base hit from Alex Toral.
Despite the lopsided score, Miami utilized its bullpen as five pitchers contributed to the win with reliever Daniel Federman working an inning and two-thirds to record his fourth victory of the season.
With the win, Miami improves to 20-11 and 12-10 in the ACC; while the Tigers fall below .500 at 15-16 overall and 9-11 in the league. The series finale is set for 12 noon on Sunday.
