On a day in which Duke, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, and Troy all run-ruled their opponents, Clemson felt it necessary to keep pace with its Southern brethren. And the Tigers got started early in their Sunday afternoon rout of Louisville. Clemson scored twelve runs in the game’s first three innings on its way to a 17-7 victory over the Cardinals at Patterson Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky. The Tigers, who are now 19-2 when scoring first this season, bashed four home runs and hit six doubles in the win, which restored their two-game lead over Florida State in the ACC’s Atlantic Division standings.
The contentious nature in which the series had been played all weekend flared up again on Sunday. After the Tigers scored four runs in the top of the first inning, Clemson starter Billy Barlow threw a pitch behind Louisville’s second-place hitter, Dylan Hoy. Hoy hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 7th inning on Saturday to begin the Cardinals’ comeback win over the Tigers. After admiring the shot to right field from the batter’s box, Hoy appeared to taunt the Clemson infield as he trotted around the bases. Whether Barlow’s pitch was intentional or not, the umpires issued a warning to both dugouts, which would come back to play a factor for the Tigers later in the game.
Up 13-3 going to the bottom of the sixth, the Tigers appeared poised for the run-rule triumph. However, UofL stormed back with a four-run bottom of the sixth inning to get inside the 10-run limit. So, Clemson’s offense went back to work to make sure the game wouldn’t last longer than one more inning.
Blake Wright lofted a sacrifice fly to get the scoring started, before Cam Cannarella smacked a run-scoring double. That was followed by Jimmy Obertop’s 15th HR of the season, a two-run shot to put the Tigers up 17-7. However, Obertop flipped his bat towards the Louisville dugout as he started to round the bases. That movement was deemed to be taunting, and Obertop was ejected by umpire Mike Jarboe as he crossed home plate.
Louisville got a two-out single in the bottom of the frame, but that was all the Cardinals could muster in their final at-bat.
Drew Titsworth (4-0) pitched 1.2 hitless innings in relief to earn the win, while Cardinal starter Will Koger (1-3) suffered the loss.
The Tigers will take four days off for final exams before hosting Georgia Tech in a three-game series, beginning Friday at 6 p.m.
