Louisville 13 — Clemson 10 (Game Summary)
- On Friday, the weather was as significant a storyline as the action on the field between Clemson and Louisville. The weather delayed the contest by about twenty minutes before the first pitch. Then after the Cardinals took the lead in the bottom of the fourth off a throwing error by the Tigers, the game entered a second weather delay that lasted nineteen minutes. In the 7th, a third weather delay shifted momentum back to the Tigers as Clemson tallied four runs in the frame
- In between the raindrops, the two teams unleashed some early lightning out of the batter’s box. Clemson struck first with Luke Gaffney blasting a two-out HR to center field to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Entering the game, Clemson was 15-2 when scoring first
- UofL answered back in their half of the first inning with a two-run HR from Tague Davis to grab a 2-1 edge over the Tigers
- In the 3rd, Clemson knotted the game at 2-2 as Nate Savoie delivered his 14th home run of the season and picked up his team-best 45th RBI
- Around the 4th inning weather delay, Louisville got to Clemson starter Aidan Knaak. After Knaak got the first two outs of the inning, Alex Alicea started the uprising for the Cards. His two-out double put him into scoring position, where he was able to come home on a throwing error by Tryston McCladdie. The umpires then brought out the caution flag for weather, halting the game for nearly twenty minutes.
- Despite having thrown upwards of 70 pitches, Knaak returned to the mound following the delay and struggled to record the final out. Louisville scored two more runs in the frame, taking advantage of another Clemson error to up the lead to 5-2
- In the fifth, Clemson found some two-out magic of its own. With Savoie standing on first, McCladdie made up for his two errors in the fourth by lining a double into left center to cut UofL’s lead to 5-3. One batter later, Gaffney remained hot with an RBI single to pull the Tigers within 5-4
- Dion Brown came into the game to start the bottom of the fifth, replacing Knaak, who worked four innings, allowing five runs, but only two earned runs. He struck out a season-low four batters while walking just two
- Louisville broke the game open in the sixth, scoring five runs on three hits with another Clemson error factored in. The big blow in the inning was a three-run HR from Ben Slanker to give the Cardinals a 10-4 lead heading to the 7th
- In the 7th, Clemson got a run back thanks to an HR, the fifth of the game between the two teams, off the bat of Talan Bell. The big fly, Bell’s first hit of the season, must have seeded the clouds once again, as with two outs, the game entered its third delay of the night, one that was considerably longer than the first two. The one hour and twenty minute rest was just what the doctor ordered for the Tigers, who scored three more runs after play resumed to cut Louisville’s lead to 10-8 heading to the bottom of the 7th
- The Tigers had a chance to tie the game in the 8th, but Savoie grounded into a DP with runners at first and second to end the inning. In the bottom half, Louisville made Clemson pay for not pushing a run home as the Cards scored three insurance runs to seemingly put the game away. But the Tigers weren’t quite ready to concede
- Clemson got its first three batters aboard in the top of the 9th. After a groundout and strikeout, Tyler Lichtenberger was hit by a pitch to pull the Tigers within 13-9. Next, Bryce Clavon reached on UofL’s first error of the night to cut it to a three-run deficit. But Bell, representing the go-ahead run, struck out looking to end the game
- Louisville stole five bases during the game, upping its season total to 101. The Cards also scored four runs off of a season-high five Clemson errors
- Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 7pm