Clemson baseball rallies past South Alabama in season opener
There was talk throughout the preseason that the Clemson baseball team would rely more on small ball than power in 2019 with former Tigers sluggers Seth Beer and Chris Williams now playing professional baseball.
But it was a pair of home runs that helped Clemson to a 6-2 victory against South Alabama in its season opener Friday evening.
Logan Davidson hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning and Michael Green added a solo shot in the seventh as the Tigers rallied from a 2-0 deficit for the victory. Davidson’s homer came after the Tigers had stranded four base runners through the first four innings. Clemson never trailed after his deep blast to left.
“I like to come up with those hits when we need them,” the junior shortstop said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that can hit home runs. They haven’t been established as home run hitters yet, but we’ve got a number of guys that have a lot of power.”
Clemson (1-0) trailed 2-0 entering the bottom of the fifth inning after Ethan Wilson and Wells Davis hit back-to-back homers for South Alabama off of Tigers starter Brooks Crawford in the fourth. But South Alabama’s lead did not last long.
Clemson leadoff hitter Sam Hall walked with one out in the fifth inning and the Jaguars replaced starting pitcher Drake Nightengale, who had yet to allow a run and had given up only one hit until that point.
Jared Proctor, who replaced Nightengale, walked Green before Davidson blasted a home run on a 1-0 pitch to give Clemson a 3-2 lead.
“Offensively early on we had some runners on base. We had a couple of opportunities and couldn’t come up with a big hit,” Clemson coach Monte Lee said. “Logan came up big for us. We were down 2-0, never panicked... Logan hit the three-run homer to put us ahead and we never looked back.”
The Tigers extended their lead to 4-2 on Green’s solo homer in the seventh before Clemson ran into some trouble.
South Alabama shortstop Santi Montiel doubled to open the top of the eighth inning off of Tigers reliever Mat Clark, and after Wilson singled and Davis walked, Clemson turned to closer Carson Spiers with the base loaded and two outs.
Spiers got South Alabama cleanup hitter Carter Perkins to ground back to the mound to end the frame.
Clemson extended its lead to 6-2 in the eighth inning on a two-RBI single by Sam Hall, before Spiers pitched a perfect ninth inning to close out the game.
“How about the big two-strike, two-out hit by Sam Hall?” Lee said. “A big, big hit in the eighth inning to give us some insurance.”
Clarke (1-0) earned the win for the Tigers, pitching three scoreless innings while allowing three hits. Proctor suffered the loss, allowing two runs in one inning.
Green finished 2-for-3 with two runs, an RBI and two walks in his Clemson debut. The sophomore played at Florence-Darlington Technical College last season.
“How about the debut by Michael Green?” Lee said. “I thought he was the best offensive player on the day for us. Scored two runs, had two hits, hit a big home run. Just an outstanding effort offensively for our guys.”
Crawford, Clark and Spiers combined to allow two runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and one walk. Clemson did not commit an error.
“I want to give a lot of credit to our pitching and our defense first and foremost,” Lee said. “We had one free 90 on the day, one walk. The defense was outstanding.”
The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday with the first game scheduled for 1 p.m. The series finale will take place an hour after the conclusion of the first game.
This story was originally published February 15, 2019 at 6:02 PM.
