CLEMSON -- No. 11 Wake Forest jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the third inning and held on for a 12-10 victory over No. 4 Clemson at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
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The Demon Deacons, who evened the series 1-1, improved to 19-5 overall and 7-1 in the ACC. The Tigers dropped to 22-3 overall and 3-2 in ACC play.
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Marek Houston hit a solo homer in the first inning, then Matt Scannell hit a two-out single to score a run in the second inning.
A costly error with one out preceded the Demon Deacons scoring eight runs in the top of the third inning, highlighted by Jimmy Keenan’s grand slam. Later in the frame, Kade Lewis capped the scoring with a three-run homer to give Wake Forest a 10-0 lead.
The Tigers responded with four runs on one hit and a costly error in the bottom of the third inning, then they scored four runs in the fifth inning, keyed by Luke Gaffney’s run-scoring single, Jacob Jarrell’s run-scoring double and Andrew Ciufo’s two-out, run-scoring single to narrow Wake Forest’s lead to 10-8.
Austin Hawke’s two-out, two-run double in the top of the sixth inning doubled the Demon Deacons' lead.
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Clemson responded with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, capped by Josh Paino’s two-out, run-scoring single. Later in the frame, Jarrell crushed a flyball to deep right-center, but Javar Williams reached over the fence and robbed Jarrell of a game-tying home run.
The Deacons outhit Clemson 15-9.
Luke Schmolke (3-0) earned the win by tossing 1.2 innings in relief, while Josh Gunther pitched 1.1 innings to record his fourth save of the year.
Tiger starter Ethan Darden (3-1) suffered the loss, as he allowed nine hits, six earned runs and two strikeouts in 2.2 innings pitched. The Tigers used six pitchers on the afternoon - Chance Fitzgerald (0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER), Joe Allen (1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K), Nathan Dvorsky (0.2 IP, 2 ER, 2 BB), Reed Garris (2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 2 K) and B.J. Bailey (1.2 IP, 1 BB).
The series concludes Sunday at 3 p.m. on ACC Network.
