This time, the magic pixie dust was sprinkled with Cardinal red and black coloring.
After blowing a seven-run lead to the Tigers on Friday night, Louisville scored three runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth to rally past Clemson 7-6 on Saturday and even their ACC weekend series at a game apiece. While the mountain wasn’t as high to climb for the Cards as it was for the Tigers the night before, the result was the same: a key conference victory.
Clemson appeared to be in good shape for its 15th ACC win of the season, as the Tigers carried a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning thanks to a three-run fourth. However, Louisville would not go away. After the Cardinals scored a two-out run in the fifth inning, Jarren Purify belted a solo homer, his third of the year, in the sixth inning to push the advantage back to three. That’s when the Cardinals turned the rally caps around.
Dylan Hoy led off the seventh inning with a homer, and then three batters later, Eddie King Jr. clobbered a two-run shot to level the game at 5-5. Louisville then scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning on an error following a sacrifice bunt. JT Benson then doubled the Cardinal lead later in the frame with a mammoth home run to left field.
Jacob Jarrell hit his second home run of the game in the ninth inning, but his solo shot left the Tigers one run short. Jarrell’s first round-tripper was a two-run blast in the fourth inning.
Parker Detmers (2-1) earned the win in relief, while Kaleb Corbett pitched the ninth inning to record his first save of the year. Reed Garris (0-1) suffered the loss.
The rubber match of the series is set for Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m.
