Clemson blows late lead, drops series with Duke

The Clemson offense got going late to give the Tigers a 7-6 ninth-inning lead over Duke in the rubber match of the three-game series, but the Clemson pitching staff couldn’t hold it.

Duke scored five runs in the ninth inning Sunday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on its way to an 11-8 win in Game 3 of the series.

The Blue Devils take the series 2-1 with the win after beating Clemson in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. Clemson won the nightcap on Saturday, to set up Sunday’s rubber match.

With the loss, the Tigers are now 12-8 (1-2). The Blue Devils improve to 13-7 (3-3) with the victory.

“Just extremely disappointed but just goes to show you the razor thin margin of playing games like this and weekends like this,” Clemson coach Erik Bakich said. “A couple of different plays here and there and this could have been a potential sweep. We’re walking out now losing the series with no excuses. As a coach, just thinking what could we have done a little bit different.”

Clemson trailed 4-1 entering the bottom of the fifth inning, before getting clutch at bats down the stretch to take a 7-6 lead into the top of the ninth.

However, Billy Barlow, Rocco Reid and Ty Olenchuk struggled on the mound late.

Jay Beshears hit a solo homer off Barlow to tie the game at 7-7, and Barlow was replaced by Reid. Reid allowed a walk and a single, before being replaced by Olenchuk.

Chad Knight hit an RBI double off Olenchuk to give the Blue Devils the lead, before Damon Lux blasted a three-run homer to give Duke a comfortable advantage. Clemson got one run back in the bottom of the ninth inning, but it wasn’t enough.

“The reality is the difference in all three of these games was very close. We didn’t get the hit when we needed it in Game 1. And when we got the hits we didn’t have the bullpen pitching in Game 3,” Bakich said. “We’re just going to need to keep getting better as a team. We can’t lose confidence. … Disappointed for our guys, but the good news is there’s a lot of season left.”

Cam Cannarella, Blake Wright and Caden Grice each had a pair of hits for the Tigers, while Riley Bertram and Nathan Hall both had a pair of RBIs.

Grice got the start for Clemson on the mound and allowed four runs in 4 innings.

Up next, Clemson has midweek games against Winthrop and Kennesaw State, before playing at Georgia Tech in a three-game series next weekend.