A day after watching their pitchers throw a combined no-hitter at Pittsburgh, the Clemson batters decided they would take matters into their own hands on Friday. The Tigers rapped out fourteen hits in cruising to an 11-2 victory over the Panthers on Friday afternoon. The win, Clemson’s 40th of the season, clinched the series for the Tigers and upped their conference record to 17-12 with one game left to play. Clemson is also the first ACC team to reach 40 overall wins.
Clemson scored in five of the first six innings to set the pace, with Cam Cannarella getting things started right off the bus. The Hartsville native extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a leadoff single in the first inning and scored on Collin Priest’s sacrifice fly. Jack Crighton scored on a wild pitch in the second inning, then Cannarella flared a two-out single to score a run. Jarren Purify followed with a two-run homer, his sixth of the year. The Tigers added two runs in the third inning, capped by TP Wentworth’s two-out, run-scoring double, to build a 7-0 lead.
Ryan Zuckerman ripped a two-run homer in the fourth to put Pittsburgh on the scoreboard, then Wentworth responded with a two-run single in the fifth inning. In the sixth inning, back-to-back doubles by Josh Paino and Dominic Listi plated a run, with Listi extending the lead on a wild pitch.
Tiger starter Drew Titsworth (5-1) earned the win by tying his career-long outing with 6.0 innings pitched. He allowed five hits, two runs, and two walks with four strikeouts. Jacob McGovern pitched 3.0 innings to record his first career save. Panther starter Kyle Demi (0-3) suffered the loss, as he yielded five runs on five hits in 1.2 innings pitched.
The regular season concludes Saturday at 1 p.m.