Enough was evidently enough for third-ranked Clemson. After three of their last four games saw the Tigers fall into an early hole, Clemson took a different approach in its Friday night matchup at 19th-ranked Georgia Tech. The Tigers scored two runs in the first and three runs over the last two innings to nab a 9-7 win at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta. The victory improved Clemson to 25-4 overall and 5-2 in the ACC. The Yellow Jackets dropped to 21-5 on the season and 7-3 in league play.
The game started off with a bang as the visitors struck for two in the first inning, highlighted by Luke Gaffney’s run-scoring single. Georgia Tech answered right back in the bottom of the frame with a solo home run from Kyle Lodise to cut the deficit in half.
It stayed 2-1 until the fourth when Jacob Jarrell belted a solo homer, followed three batters later by a Dominic Listi run-scoring single to put Clemson ahead 4-1.
The Tigers added another run in the top of the fifth before Georgia Tech responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the score at 5.
Each team scored a run in the sixth, with the Tigers tally coming on the fourth home run of the season from Collin Priest to lead off the inning. That set the stage for a wild last couple of at-bats for each team.
In the eighth inning, Andrew Ciufo’s squeeze bunt scored the go-ahead run, and then Listi hit a sacrifice fly later in the inning. Jarrell added a solo homer, his second of the game and fourth of the season, in the ninth to give the Tigers just enough cushion to hold off a small rally from Georgia Tech in the bottom of the ninth.
Lucas Mahlstedt (2-0) pitched 3.1 innings in relief to earn the win, while Mason Patel (7-1) suffered the loss.
The series continues Saturday at 4 p.m.