Clemson starts 2022 baseball season on strong note with shutout of Indiana
Clemson was a solid mix of old and new in the 2022 baseball season opener Friday.
Benjamin Blackwell hit his first home run as a Clemson Tiger while Mack Anglin kept Indiana’s bats in check for the Tigers’ 9-0 win over the Hoosiers at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. It’s the team’s first shutout since a 5-0 decision in the 2021 season opener against Cincinnati before sweeping the weekend series.
Taking the first game of the weekend series, Clemson (1-0) can win it during Game 2 at 3 p.m. Saturday back at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
Tigers head coach Monte Lee said he chose the series starting pitchers based on experience, and Anglin didn’t disappoint. The redshirt sophomore, who was selected in the 2021 MLB Draft but opted to return to school, opened Friday by striking out the first two batters he faced.
Anglin threw five innings without giving up any runs or any hits with eight strikeouts and only two walks. Several of his pitches also reached the low 90s, with the highest being a 95-mph fastball in the second inning.
“Mack got to strike one on seven out of the first nine hitters, so the first time through the order, he got to strike one seven out of nine times, so I would say job not only well done, but a great job of getting to strike one,” Lee said. “He did a great job of locating his fastball, getting ahead of their guys and then being able to finish them with a breaking ball. He also struck out a lot of guys looking on fastballs away. … Just thought Mack did a really good job of executing his fastball location today.”
Meanwhile, Clemson’s bats were hot early against Hoosiers pitcher John-Biagio Modugno, scoring six runs on eight hits against the junior. Blackwell, a graduate transfer from Dayton, made his debut with Clemson by sending the first pitch of his first at-bat over the left-field wall for the first home run of the season, putting the Tigers up 4-0 in the second inning.
“We (Lee) kind of talked about the pregame plan that I was going to focus on one side of the plate,” Blackwell said. “That pitch was there, I put a good swing on it. I’m thankful for him preparing me for that and the eight other guys for talking to me and helping me out.”
Two innings later, Modugno slipped while trying to field Blackwell’s bunt, allowing the graduate transfer an RBI on Jonathan French’s run.
Even though the Tigers totaled nine hits, three of which came from Caden Grice, Lee wants to see more consistency out of his group moving forward.
“Feel like we need to be a little better third, fourth time through the order when they bring in relievers that can spin it a little bit,” he said. “We’ve got to do a better job of laying off all-speed pitches out of the zone. I felt like we swung out of the zone too much. Third and fourth times through the order, we need to be more disciplined. … We need to play nine innings of focused baseball.”
How to watch Clemson baseball
All games at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson
- Saturday: vs. Indiana, 3 p.m. (ACC Network Extra)
- Sunday: vs. Indiana, 1 p.m. (ACC Network Extra)
- Tuesday: vs. Charleston, 4 p.m. (ACC Network Extra)
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 7:14 PM.
