Following Sunday’s loss to Louisville, which completed the Cardinals’ three-game sweep in the series, Clemson head coach Monte Lee had a “Come-to-Jesus” kind of meeting with his ball team. From there, his team leaders took over, and whatever was said was taken out on Georgia on Tuesday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

“We moved some guys around tonight. I wanted to try some different things,” Lee said. “I thought our energy level was good.  It was good to see our guys bounce back after a tough weekend. It was good to be back home. We have played well at home.”

The Tigers began a 13-game home stand by scoring five runs in the first inning, while Chris Okey hit a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth inning, lifting No. 22 Clemson to a 12-0 victory over the Bulldogs. The win not only snapped a three-game slide, but it also completed a season sweep of Georgia and ran the Tigers record to a perfect 10-0 in midweek games this season.

It marked Clemson’s first shutout over Georgia at Clemson since April 6, 1977 – a 2-0 win. It was also the first time the Tigers shutout the Bulldogs by 12 or more runs since a 23-0 victory on April 5, 1946.

In all, Clemson (25-12) pounded out 11 hits as Okey had another hit to go with his home run, while driving in five total runs on the night. Right fielder Seth Beer also had two hits and had three RBIs, while Reed Rohlman had a double and plated two runs as did Chris Williams.

On the mound, freshman Ryley Gilliam got his second start, and just like his first one he was excellent. The righty improved to 2-0 on the season as he allowed just one hit in five scoreless innings. Alex Schnell also pitched well as did Clate Schmidt, who had been a weekend start since the start of the season.

“It all started with Ryley Gilliam.  He did an unbelievable job,” Lee said.

Alex Bostic came on in the eighth inning and Patrick Andrews in the ninth as Clemson pitching allowed just three hits.

With Schmidt pitching on Tuesday, it more than likely means head coach Monte Lee will have a new Friday starter, as well as a new weekend pitcher in the rotation when the Tigers host Georgia Tech this weekend. That series begins Friday at 6:30 p.m.

As for what happened at the plate, Clemson quickly took out its frustrations on Georgia pitcher Andrew Gist. They scored six runs, all earned, on six hits before running him off with one in the fourth inning. That’s when Okey hit his grand slam off reliever Mike Mancuso on the first pitch in the at-bat.

The Tigers opened up a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first after Okey singled through the left side to score Eli White, who scored three runs on the night, and Rohlman and Williams followed with back-to-back doubles to score two runs each.

White scored again in the second thanks to an RBI single to right field by Beer, and then Okay made 10-0 in the fourth with his grand slam to left field.

Clemson extended the lead to 12-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning when Beer hit a one-out single up the middle to score White and Maleeke Gibson.