Clemson bounces back, holds off No. 14 Georgia

Clemson earned a big-time midweek win on Tuesday, holding off No. 14 Georgia by a score of 4-3 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

The Tigers got a strong performance from their pitching staff while handing Georgia only its seventh loss of the season.

The Bulldogs drop to 22-7 with the loss, while Clemson improves to 19-9 with the victory.

“A great win for us tonight. We pitched lights out,” Clemson coach Monte Lee told reporters following the game. “Overall I thought we played a really good baseball game against a really good club and found a way to win.”

Billy Barlow earned the win for Clemson, allowing only one run in five innings of work. Ryan Ammons earned the save for the Tigers, tossing a scoreless ninth inning.

Ammons struggled in his most recent outing prior to Tuesday, allowing four runs in 1 1/3 innings over the weekend against NC State.

“I thought Barlow was outstanding. It was great to see him pitch the way that he did,” Lee said. “It was great to see Ryan bounce back after a tough outing his last time out.”

Clemson finished with only six hits, but three of them were home runs as Cooper Ingle, Blake Wright and Max Wagner all homered for the Tigers. Wright also doubled while upping his average to .319 on the year.

“Offensively we did enough. I thought we had a lot of really good at bats,” Lee said. “Certainly a big win for us and one against a really good club. I just thought we played a good baseball game.”

Every game is important for Clemson at this point as the Tigers are 5-9 in their last 14 games after opening the season 14-0.

Clemson has also yet to win an ACC series this year, and things won’t get any easier this weekend as the Tigers travel to Notre Dame for a three-game series against the 13th-ranked Fighting Irish.

“Notre Dame’s a great club. They’re very well coached,” Lee said. “We’ve got a big test ahead of us, but hopefully the guys can pull upon the experience tonight.”