Extra Innings – South Alabama
Clemson opened up the 2019 season against South Alabama Friday afternoon. South Alabama took the lead early at the top of the fourth inning with back to back homeruns by Ethan Wilson and Wells Davis off of Brooks Crawford pitches. The Tigers were held scoreless through four innings by South Alabama pitcher, Drake Nightengale only to be answered by a Logan Davidson home run that would bring in three runs and put the Tigers up 3-2. Clemson would score again in the 7th off of a Michael Green homerun and would add two more runs in the 8th off a Sam Hall single. The Tigers would have 6 hits and 8 walks in game one.
Game 2 would bring sunny skies to Tigertown for game one of the doubleheader as Davis Sharpe got his first career start in game 2 Saturday as pitcher. In his first inning as a Tiger, Sharpe had a 123 inning with two strikeouts. Sam Hall would bring in the Tigers first score of the day off a Logan Davidson fly ball. The game would remain scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning with the bases loaded Bryce Teodosio would hit the first grand slam of the season that would bring Greene, Byrd and Davidson across the plate to put the Tigers up 5-0. At the top of the sixth inning, Jacob Hennessy replaced Davis Sharpe on the bump. Sharpe pitched for 5 innings, allowed 2 hits and no runs. South Alabama would remain scoreless until the top of the 6th inning, when a homerun from Wells Davis would help bring Wilson across the plate and put the Jaguars on the board. Clemson would continue scoring into the bottom of the 6th inning when Sam Hall would hit a homer putting the Tigers up 6-2. At the top of the 8th inning, Ryne Huggins would replace Jacob Hennessy after pitching 2.1 innings allowing 3 hits and 2 runs. In the bottom of the 8th a Kyle Wilkie fly ball would send Michael Hall to home plate to extend the Tigers lead by 4. Holt Jones would close the game out pitching after Ryne Huggins pitched 0.2 innings allowing 1 hit. South Alabama would allow Clemson to steal 6 bases in game 2. The Jaguars would go through 4 pitchers who would in total, give up 5 hits and 7 runs. Clemson would go through 4 pitchers who would give up 6 hits and 2 runs.
Game 3 of the series began an hour after game 2. Davis Sharpe, Adam Hackenburg and Elijah Henderson all got their career starts in the batting order during game 3. Game 3 also saw the first appearance of Justin Wrobleski on the bump. In his second appearance on the bump, Wrobleski had a 123 inning at the top of the third inning Wrobleski had another 123 inning with two strikeouts. A homerun at the top of the 4th inning by Aberquette would bring in Davis and Wilson and put the Jaguars ahead of the Tigers by three runs. Clemson would answer the South Alabama homerun with one of their own, Davis Sharpe hit his first career homerun at the bottom of the 4th inning to cut the Jaguars lead by two. South Alabama would score on a single RBI at the top of the 5th inning to again extend the Jaguars lead by three. Travis Marr would come in at the top of the 6th inning to relieve Wrobleski after pitching for 5.2 innings and allowing 4 hits and 4 runs. Freshman Davis Sharpe would cut the Jaguars lead to one run in the bottom of the sixth inning with a homerun that would send him and Grayson Byrd across home plate. To close out the game, Sam Weatherly relieved Travis Marr after pitching 1.2 innings and allowing 1 hit. Bryce Teodosio would double left to center and advance to third base on a fielding error. Clemson would fall to South Alabama in game 3.
Last season, Clemson lost a lot of power and Coach Monte Lee was looking for players to fulfill those positions. Clemson hit six homeruns throughout their opening weekend series, there is a great bit of power that resides within this team.
Attendance for Clemson’s Saturday Double Header 5,678.
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