Wake Forest battered Clemson with a grand slam and a three-run homer in an eight run third inning and the Demon Deacons went on to a 12-10 win at Doug Kingsmore Stadium to even their ACC series at a game each. The rubber game will be on Sunday afternoon.
The Deacons had already taken a 2-0 lead off Clemson starter Ethan Darden with a solo homer in the first and a two-out RBI single in the second when they unloaded in the third. sending a dozen hitters to the plate.
Wake loaded the bases with one out with a single, a fielder’s choice to third baseman Josh Paino and then an error on Paino. An RBI single made it 3-0 Wake Forest. Catcher Jimmy Keenan, a .204 hitter, then cleared the bases with a grand slam to make it a 7-0 lead.
After allowing a single and getting a fly ball out, Darden weas lifted for Chance Fitzgerald. After throwing wild to first on a pickoff attempt, Fitzgerald yielded a single and then a three-run homer to third baseman Kade Lewis who raised his average to .459 with a three-hit day. It was 10-0 at that point.
The Tigers responded with a four-run reply. They loaded the bases with one out and Jarren Purify took one for the team to force in the first run. Cam Cannarella then hit one to third that Lewis threw way allowing two runs to score. Luke Gaffney then hit a sacrifice fly for the fourth run of the rally.
Clemson chopped four more runs off the lead in the bottom of the fifth. With runners on second and third and no one out, Gaffney singled to short to score one run. Paino followed with a fielder’s choice to short that scored the second run. Jacob Jarrell followed with a double to right center that scored Paino from first. And with two outs, Anthony Ciufo singled to score Jarrell to make it a 10-8 game.
The Deacons added two insurance runs, which they would need, in the sixth on a two-out double off of Reed Garris for a 12-8 lead. The Tigers also scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth on a wild pitch and a RBI single by Paino.
That would be it for the scoring. Wake had one good scoring threat getting runners to second and third with two outs in the eighth but BJ Bailey got a line drive to second to end the inning.
Clemson had chances to score but couldn’t come up with the clultch hit. The Tigers had first and second with two outs in the seventh but Cannarella grounded out to first. In the eighth, Clemson had a runner on third with two out but Jarrell struck out. And in the ninth, the Tigers loaded the bases with two outs but Collin Priest popped out to the third baeman to end the game.
Clemson was 3-15 with runners in scoring position compared to 6-17 for the Demon Deacons. Wake also scored six of their runs with two outs.
Darden (3-1) took the loss for Clemson allowing nine hits, eight runs, six of them earned, over 2.2 innings. Wake Forest had 15 hits including three home runs and a double. The Demon Deacons also walked six times and had one batter hit.
Clemson is now 22-3 and 3-2 in the ACC while Wake is 19-5 and 7-1.