Despite a loss in Friday’s opener and a late deficit in Saturday’s second game, the Diamond Heels came back to win two out of three games and earn the series victory during the weekend at Clemson. It’s the second straight weekend UNC has won a series after dropping the first game, and the first time since 2012 the team has won a series at Clemson.
Carolina scored first Friday but fell behind after Clemson scored a run in the third inning and four in the fifth, taking a lead which would hold up for the rest of the game. UNC starter Jason DeCaro didn’t make it out of the fifth inning, surrendering seven hits and walking more Tiger batters (four) than he struck out (three). On the other side, Clemson’s Aidan Knaak and Hayden Simmerson combined to strike out 16 UNC hitters in the 9-5 Tiger victory.
Clemson appeared to be on its way to a series win Saturday after taking a 4-2 lead into the top of the eighth inning. But UNC cut that deficit in half with a Cooper Nicholson RBI double, then put itself in position to tie the game in the ninth after Jake Schaffner led off with a double. He advanced to third base on a flyout, then scampered home to score the tying run on an Erik Paulsen grounder to third base. Schaffner dove in just ahead of the Clemson tag.
Clemson men on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but could not find a walk-off hit against Caden Glauber. The game went to extra innings.
The Tigers had an even better chance in the 10th inning, loading the bases with one out after a hit batsman and two singles. Glauber was a ball away from potentially walking in the winning run, but managed to get out of the jam with a force out at home and a flyout to end the threat.
UNC, meanwhile, had its own golden chance in the top of the 12th. After Tyler Howe walked with two outs, he attempted to come all the way home on a Nicholson double to right center field, but he was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. Finally, in the 14th, Carolina scratched across the winning runs after a single, a walk and a fielding error loaded the bases with one out. Howe laid down a bunt on a squeeze play, and it worked better than the Diamond Heels could have imagined. Two runs scored on the play after Clemson’s initial throw home was off target, allowing Owen Hull to score all the way from second base.
Glauber retired the Tigers in order in the bottom of the inning to secure the unlikely 6-4 win, UNC’s second 14-inning victory in as many weeks. Glauber earned the win with six innings of shutout relief. The freshman faced 22 batters – one more than starter Ryan Lynch – and struck out six.
Sunday’s finale saw UNC score first again, but this time the Diamond Heels did not give up the lead. Ahead 2-1, Carolina scored five runs in the fourth and two in the fifth to blow it open, adding runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth to offset three Tiger runs in the sixth. Gavin Gallaher clubbed a two-run home run, while Hull finished with a monstrous day at the plate: 5-6 with a three-run home run, five total RBI and two runs scored. He also doubled home a run in the seventh. Four different Carolina batters finished with multiple hits in the 12-5 UNC win.
The series win moves UNC to 30-6-1 overall on the season and 13-5 in ACC play. Carolina is also 9-1 in true road games. Up next, the Diamond Heels will return home to host UNC-Wilmington at Boshamer Stadium Tuesday before a massive ACC series that weekend. No. 3 Georgia Tech, fresh off a sweep of No. 5 Florida State and currently in first place in the league standings, visits for a three-game set beginning Friday at 6 p.m.
Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter
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