Clemson Tigers smash No. 4 Louisville, 9-1

Clemson coach Jack Leggett entered Saturday’s series against No. 4 Louisville concerned how his team would play coming off exam week and a six-day layoff between games.

His guys had late nights studying and all of their attention on finishing the semester strong academically, but it took just one inning to calm Leggett’s nerves as his team responded with “one of the better games” it’s played all season.

After dropping a series last weekend at Georgia Tech, the Tigers scored three runs in the first Saturday, took a 5-0 lead after three and got seven innings of one-run ball from starting pitcher Matthew Crownover to crush the Cardinals 9-1 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

“It’s one of those things, you never really know what to expect coming out of (exam week), but I knew the kids would be ready to play and I knew they were excited about playing,” said Leggett, who won his 64th game against a top-five opponent in his 22 years. “They were excited about playing a really good baseball team.”

The Cardinals came into the series sporting the fifth best ERA in the nation and had Kyle Funkhouser, one of the top pro prospects in all of baseball, on the mound. However, it marked the fifth time in the past 29 games that Louisville’s given up at least five runs in a contest.

“We played pretty well against a top-five pick,” said Crownover, who gave up five hits through seven innings to improve to 8-1. “(Funkhouser’s) the real deal. He’ll pitch in the big leagues in about two years.

“That guy’s going to be making millions of dollars in the next couple weeks (after the draft) and I probably won’t, but by God, he wasn’t going to beat me today.”

The Tigers (24-21, 13-11 ACC) tagged Funkhouser (6-3) for five earned runs on seven hits through six innings. Weston Wilson went 3-for-4 and drove in three RBIs for a Tiger squad that outhit the Cardinals (35-11, 19-3) 10-7. Reed Rohlman added two hits and two RBIs off Funkhouser.

“Our plan coming into the game was to just swing the bat, have confidence. If we get a pitch, hit it,” Rohlman said. “It was big for us to get a lead like that early in the game, especially against a team like Louisville.”

Said Leggett: “We made some adjustments there and got some hits with men on base. That always makes you feel good, gets the ball rolling and gives you some confidence.”

The series continues Sunday with Game 2 at 6:30 p.m. and concludes Monday at 7 p.m. with a game televised by ESPNU.

“We have a good feeling about this weekend,” Rohlman said.

This story was originally published May 2, 2015 at 11:03 PM with the headline "Clemson Tigers smash No. 4 Louisville, 9-1."