Clemson baseball pounds Pitt, moves closer to ACC title

Clemson baseball pounded Pittsburgh 16-6 Thursday night in Pittsburgh, Pa., to remain tied with North Carolina atop the ACC standings with two regular-season games remaining.

The eighth-ranked Tigers improved to 41-13 (20-8) with the victory, while Pitt falls to 27-23 (11-17). Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Friday at 3 p.m.

Clemson's offense erupted for 18 hits in the victory, and Tigers shortstop Logan Davidson became the first player in school history to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game.

Clemson third baseman Patrick Cromwell also hit a pair of home runs as the Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.

Sam Hall and Seth Beer also homered, and the Tigers provided plenty of offense for freshman pitcher Spencer Strider, who was making his first career ACC start.

Clemson's first six hitters in the lineup had multi-hit games.

Beer led the way, going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBIs.

Davidson was 3-for-6 with four runs scored and three RBIs, while Cromwell was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and four RBIs.

Kyle Wilkie, Chris Williams and Drew Wharton each had two hits for the Tigers. Wilkie scored a pair of runs and had an RBI, while Williams scored two runs, drove in a pair of runs and walked twice.

Strider (5-1) earned the win, allowing two runs in five innings of work. He struck out seven.

This story was originally published May 17, 2018 at 10:05 PM with the headline "Clemson baseball pounds Pitt, moves closer to ACC title."