Virginia 6 – Clemson 4 Game Summary
- Ninth-ranked Virginia took a back-and-forth game from Clemson 6-4 in the series opener at Charlottesville, Va., Thursday.
- Clemson took an early 2-0 lead on Luke Gaffney’s second-inning home run. Gaffney’s long ball, his fourth of the season, came off the bat at 106 mph, according to Clemson’s social media post.
- The Cavaliers struck back with a three-run shot from leadoff hitter AJ Gracia.
- Neither team scored again until the sixth inning when Tigers catcher Jacob Jarrell launched his 15th homer of the season over the left-field fence to tie the game up 3-3.
- Tigers starter Aidan Knaak retired nine straight batters from the third through fifth innings before running into trouble in the sixth. With a runner on and one out, Knaak plunked Kyle Johnson to put runners on first and second. Knaak walked the next batter on four pitches to load the bases for Cavaliers catcher Jake Weatherspoon. Weatherspoon made his only hit of the game count, doubling to right center to clear the bases and chase Knaak (L, 2-4).
- Clemson tallied a run in the eighth on Jarrell’s groundout fo close the gap to 6-4 and set up a dramatic ninth. Tyler Lichtenberger and Gaffney reached on consecutive singles to put the pressure on Cavs closer Tyler Kapa. With the tying runs on base, Kapa (S, 8) nailed it down by retiring Jackson Moore (flyout) and Bryce Clavon (groundout).
- Aidan Knaak (10 Ks) had won his last two starts before suffering the loss, Thursday.
- Clemson (24-15, 5-11) has dropped its last three conference games and will look to break the string when the Tigers and Cavaliers meet for Game 2 at 6 p.m., Friday.
