Clemson baseball uses late surge to beat USC Upstate in opening NCAA game
The game was tied late, but that didn’t rattle the Clemson baseball team.
The Tigers scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a tie and beat USC Upstate, 7-3, in their opening NCAA Tournament regional game Friday.
Clemson, the No. 1 seed in its regional, trailed 2-0 after four innings before taking a 3-2 lead with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. USC Upstate tied the game 3-3 with a solo home run (its second of the game) in the top of the eighth.
But the Tigers, who’d struggled on offense most of the evening, locked in and ripped off four runs in the bottom of that inning to avoid falling into the loser’s bracket.
Tigers star center fielder Cam Cannarella finished with a team-high three hits and four runs batted in and had a huge two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth. Reliever Jacob McGovern pitched 3.1 clutch scoreless innings.
Their efforts helped stave off an upset on a night where Clemson’s offense struck out 11 times in 33 at-bats and its starting pitcher had one of his worst outings.
Clemson (45-16) advances to a winner’s bracket game vs. No. 2 West Virginia (42-14) at 6 p.m. Saturday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. With the loss, USC Upstate (36-24) will play No. 3 Kentucky (29-25) in an elimination game at noon Saturday.
“It was a great crowd,” Clemson coach Erik Bakich said postgame. “We didn’t give them much to cheer about early. … It was a nip and tuck game there for a long, long time, so I felt like if we could separate in the eighth that would help.”
Game recap
Facing the lowest seed in their regional, Clemson and Bakich opted to start Drew Titsworth, their No. 2 pitcher, instead of usual ace Aidan Knaak on Friday.
Titsworth allowed the game’s opening run in the top of the second inning when USC Upstate’s Johnny Sweeney smashed a home run deep to right field.
The Spartans went up 2-0 in the top of the fourth inning with an RBI single.
Clemson, meanwhile, couldn’t get anything from its hitters early. Through four innings, the Tigers were batting .200 (3-15) with seven strikeouts and zero extra-base hits. They’d also left four on base and batted 0-4 with runners in scoring position.
“I don’t think we’re afraid of any challenge,” USC Upstate coach Kane Sweeney said postgame. “We don’t back down from whoever we’re playing.”
Bakich pulled Titsworth for reliever Jacob McGovern in the top of the fifth after USC Upstate loaded the bases with no outs. Titsworth allowed six hits — tied for the second most he’s given up in 20 appearances this season — and two earned runs.
McGovern didn’t blink and promptly recorded three straight outs to escape the inning clean and keep Clemson’s deficit at 2-0, which fired up a home crowd of 6,046 that hadn’t had many opportunities to let loose up to that point.
“It’s postseason baseball, so we just have to lock in as a team,” McGovern said. “The guys on the field, they’ve got me. It’s just trying to go out and do what I do.”
Cannarella, Clemson’s star junior center fielder, kept the momentum going with a two-run RBI double in the bottom of the fifth inning that dropped just inside the left field line. Teammate Collin Priest drove in Cannarella minutes later on a fly out to center field to give Clemson its first lead of the game, 3-2.
McGovern stayed hot and wound up pitching 3.1 scoreless innings with six strikeouts. That earned him a standing ovation as closer Lucas Mahlstedt replaced him in the top of the eighth … and allowed a home run on his very first pitch.
That center field homer from USC Upstate’s Preston Lucas tied the game 3-3.
But Clemson responded in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI single from TP Wentworth (4-3), a sac bunt from Andrew Ciufo (5-3) and a two-run home run from Cannarella (7-3) that hit the center field wall and put the game mostly out of reach.
“I love the big moments,” Cannarella said. “When that time comes, I wanna shine.”
After allowing a game-tying homer on his first pitch in the eighth, Mahlstedt settled down and shut out USC Upstate in the top of the ninth to secure the win.
Next up for Clemson is Big 12 regular-season champion West Virginia, which came down from 3-0 and beat Kentucky 4-3 on a walk-off sac fly earlier Friday.
“Great win,” Bakich said. “Happy about it, and we’ll celebrate it tonight. But we know there’s a lot of regional left and we’ve got another great game on deck.”
2025 Clemson baseball regional schedule
All games at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson
Friday, May 30
Game 1: No. 2 West Virginia 4, No. 3 Kentucky 3
Game 2: No. 1 Clemson 7, No. 4 USC Upstate 3
Saturday, May 31
Game 3: No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 4 USC Upstate, noon (ESPN2)
Game 4: No. 2 West Virginia vs. No. 1 Clemson, 6 p.m. (ACCN)
Sunday, June 1
Game 5: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser, noon
Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 6 p.m.
Monday, June 2
Game 7 (if necessary): Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser
This story was originally published May 30, 2025 at 10:18 PM.
