The College of Charleston is having a special season having already clinched the CAA regular season championship. They also beat Texas when the Longhorns were ranked second in the nation. And Tuesday night the Cougars added to their resume a 7-5 win over a Clemson team with an RPI of 18. It’s the 5th Q1 win of the season for Chad Holbrooks’s team, and it gives them a season split with the Tigers.
The game went back and forth through the first six innings. The Cougars led 2-0 and then Clemson tied the score. The Tigers went up 3-2 and then Charleston tied the score. The Cougars went back on top 5-3 with two runs in the bottom of the fifth only to see Max Wagner tie the game again in the top of the sixth with a two-run homer, his 23rd of the season. Those would be the last runs of the night for Clemson.
The College took the lead for good in the sixth on a two-out single up the middle by Sam Cochrane, and added an insurance run in the seventh on a one-out, bases loaded fielder’s choice to second.
Holbrook now had the lead and one of the best closers in college ball on the mound in William Privette. He came in to get the last out of the seventh, a strikeout, and went on to keep the Tigers off the board the rest of the way.
Privette routinely touched 95-96 MPH with his fastball. He gave up a single in the eighth and a walk in the ninth, otherwise he was untouchable. He struck out five of the nine batters he faced and lowered his ERA to 0.69 while earning his 11th save.
The Cougars used six pitchers on the night with weekend starter Ty Good (8-4) earning the win in his second relief appearance of the season. He worked two-thirds of an inning, allowed a hit and a walk but no runs. Jay Dill (2-2), the third of six Clemson pitchers, took the loss allowing two hits and a run in his one inning.
Clemson had 11 hits and drew 10 walks but left 16 on base. The Tigers were 4 for 23 with runners on base and 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position. Benjamin Blackwell had three hits to raise his batting average to .354. Wagner had two hits and three RBIs.
Conversely, the Cougars went 6 of 17 and 4 of 10 in those categories. And they were 5 of 13 hitting with two outs. Five of their runs scored with two outs. Catcher Jared Kirven led the offense with two hits and a career high four RBIs.
Charleston has now won 16 of their last 18 games and is 32-15. The win was just their fifth in 29 games against Clemson. The Cougars will play a two and one series this weekend against Charleston Southern.
The Tigers had their three-game winning streak snapped. They are 31-18 as they head into a crucial ACC series this weekend at Virginia. The loss dropped Clemson in the RPI to #25.
