ACC Tournament: Clemson bows out to Notre Dame 5-4, Tigers see season come to a close (AUDIO/VIDEO)

Notre Dame 5 – Clemson 4 Game Summary

Truist Field, Charlotte

• Clemson was eliminated in the opening round of the ACC Championship, Tuesday, falling to Notre Dame 5-4.
• The Irish again jumped on left-hander Michael Sharman (L, 6-2), putting three runs up on Clemson’s ace in the first three innings. Notre Dame opened 6 for 15, Tuesday, and had previously hit Sharman hard in his outing at South Bend on March 21st. Sharman surrendered seven runs in six innings between his two starts against Notre Dame. Despite some struggles, Sharman did tie his career high mark in strikeouts with eight.
• The Tigers briefly took the lead by plating a pair of runs against Jack Radel (W, 8-3) in the top of the third behind a long ball from Tyler Lichtenberger and Tryston McCladdie’s RBI triple.
• Radel was stellar, otherwise, holding Clemson to two runs on 4 of 22 hitting (.182) in 6.1 innings. Radel, a high-end pro prospect and first team All-ACC, lived up to the billing and drew high praise from his head coach following the game. Notre Dame’s Shawn Stiffler said he’ll be looking for another Radel for the next 20 years and that he is “everything you want a student-athlete to be.”
• Notre Dame tied the game up 2-2 on Bino Watters’ solo homer to open the bottom of the third. Four batters later, the Irish took the lead for good on Jayce Lee’s RBI double.
• Clemson scored twice against the Notre Dame bullpen on homers from Bryce Clavon in the seventh and Jacob Jarrell in the ninth, but never regained the lead.
• In a game that featured six home runs, the deciding run was manufactured without a hard-hit ball. Notre Dame’s Mark Quatrani squirted a single through the left side and advanced to second base on a pitch in the dirt. Quatrani moved to third on a ground out and scored on a medium-depth fly ball from Dylan Passo to provide the margin of victory.
• The Tigers, meanwhile, couldn’t string together quality at-bats and struck out 12 times against just one walk.
• Clemson (31-26) fails to win a game at the ACC Championship for the first time since 2022 and will not make the NCAA field of 64 for the first time under Erik Bakich. Notre Dame (31-21) advances to play no. 7 seed Virginia Tech at 5 p.m., Wednesday.

Clemson postgame press conference with
Erik Bakich and Jarren Purify

Final Stats

.@ClemsonBaseball cuts it to one with a 9th inning homer 👀

📺 @accnetwork pic.twitter.com/sS4LB5TdpR

— ACC Baseball (@ACCBaseball) May 20, 2026

BUH BYE TO THAT ONE 😤

Bryce Clavon makes it a one-run game.

📺 @accnetwork x @ClemsonBaseball pic.twitter.com/1Vpi9rMznu

— ACC Baseball (@ACCBaseball) May 20, 2026

Found the gap ➡️ Take the lead

Tryston McCladdie puts the Tigers up 2-1.

📺 @accnetwork pic.twitter.com/HuOgR7BVmQ

— ACC Baseball (@ACCBaseball) May 19, 2026

ACC Championship Bracket