ATLANTA, Ga. -- No. 3 Clemson broke a 6-6 tie with two runs in the eighth inning in its 9-7 victory over No. 19 Georgia Tech at Russ Chandler Stadium on Friday night.
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The Tigers, who took a 1-0 lead in the series, improved to 25-4 overall and 5-2 in the ACC. The Yellow Jackets dropped to 21-5 overall and 7-3 in ACC play.
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The Tigers scored two runs in the top of the first inning, highlighted by Luke Gaffney’s run-scoring single, then Kyle Lodise led off the bottom of the first inning with a homer.
Jacob Jarrell belted a solo homer in the fourth inning. Later in the frame with two outs, Dominic Listi ripped a run-scoring single to put Clemson ahead 4-1.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Carson Kerce lined a two-out double to score a run, then Clemson scored an unearned run on Josh Paino’s groundout in the top of the fifth inning. Georgia Tech responded with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the score 5-5.
Collin Priest led off the top of the sixth inning with his fourth homer of the year to put Clemson in front, but Georgia Tech answered again with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the score.
In the eighth inning, Andrew Ciufo’s squeeze bunt scored the go-ahead run, then Listi hit a sacrifice fly later in the inning.
Jarrell added a solo homer, his second of the game and fourth of the season, in the ninth inning.
Cam Cannarella added two hits for the Tigers.
Each team totaled 11 hits.
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Lucas Mahlstedt (2-0) pitched 3.1 innings in relief to earn the win, while Mason Patel (7-1) suffered the loss.
Aidan Knaak got the start for the Tigers, allowing seven hits and five earned runs in five innings, while also striking out three batters. Drew Titsworth joined Mahlstedt in drawing relief work, allowing a hit and a walk in 0.2 IP.
The series continues Saturday at 4 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
