Clemson rallies to beat Pitt

Jordan Greene’s hard single to shortstop with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning scored Reed Rohlman from third, as No. 14 Clemson rallied to beat Pittsburgh, 4-3, on Sunday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

“I am just very proud of my ball club today. Just with the way we responded. We had a tough game yesterday where we did not play well at all.  I thought today we played really, really well,” Clemson head coach Monte Lee said.

Greene’s game-winner also allowed Clemson to win the three-game series over the Panthers, who held a 3-1 lead through the first five innings in Game 3. Pitt won Game 2 on Saturday to force the rubber match on Sunday.

The Tigers (21-7, 7-5 ACC) rallied in the bottom of the sixth inning when Chris Williams singled to right centerfield with two outs, scoring Chris Okey and Seth Beer. Okey opened the inning with a walk and then Beer followed with a single to right to extend his hitting streak to 24 games, while Rohlman walked to load the bases with no outs.

After Pitt reliever Mattson got Weston Wilson to pop up to the infield and struck out K.J. Bryant looking, Williams delivered with the two-out hit to tie the game for a second time at 3-3.

Pat Krall earned the win for Clemson. After relieving starter Alex Eubanks with two outs in the fifth inning, he retired the first 12 batters he faced, and allowed just one hit and no runs in 4 1/3 inning of work.

Eubanks pitcher 4 1/3 innings giving up just two earned runs on six hits, while striking out four batters. Eubanks and Krall combined for six strikeouts and no walks in the victory. It was the second time in the three-game series with Pitt that Clemson pitching did not walk a batter.

“It all started with Alex Eubanks.  I thought he threw the ball well.  He gave us a chance.  The key for us today was our pitching.  I thought Pat Krall was outstanding,” said Lee.

The Panthers (13-11, 5-7 ACC) plated one run in the top of the first inning to take an early lead, but Clemson tied the game in the bottom of the third when K.J. Bryant singled to left and later scored on a Okey infield single with two outs..

Bryant dropped a routine fly ball in the top of the fifth inning, his second error of the day, which helped Pitt score two runs–one earned–to take a 3-1 lead.

But after the two-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the game, Rohlman walked to start the bottom of the eighth inning, then Wilson bunted him over to second with sacrifice. A wild pitch by Pitt’s Josh Falk–his fifth of the series–moved Rohlman to third, setting up Greene’s game-winning hit, which went off the glove of Pitt’s diving shortstop, Charles LeBlanc and into left field.

Clemson will travel to Georgia on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game.