The role of a Friday night starter is to set the tone for the entire weekend. So when Clemson’s Charlie Barnes hung a breaking ball, which NC State’s Preston Palmeiro carried over the wall in right centerfield for a three-run homer in the top of the first inning on Friday, it was not exactly the tone setter Barnes was hoping for.

But Barnes did not let the bad start get to him. Instead, he settled in for a six-inning night, which saw him post four consecutive shutout innings before giving up a second dinger in the top of the sixth inning to Andrew Knizner. By that time, however, the Tigers had built up a six-run lead and Knizner’s solo home run had no effect on the outcome as Clemson cruised to a 10-5 victory over No. 9 N.C. State at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

“I was pretty disappointed to start the game out like that. Obviously, I was trying to get us off to a better start than we had been recently, especially in ACC play, but after that I really settled in,” Barnes said. “Pretty much, everything was working for me. The defense played great behind, other than that second inning, so it was an all-around good effort from everyone.”

Clemson (30-15, 12-13 ACC) committed two errors in the second inning, but Barnes pitched out of the mistakes and held the Wolfpack at three runs. It turned out to be big because the Tigers put up six runs in the bottom frame to grab control of the game, which they did not relinquish the rest of the night.

Barnes was a big reason why as he went six innings. After the first inning, the lefty allowed just one run and five hits over the next five innings, while striking out six batters and walking just two.

Overall, Barnes threw 90 pitches and put his team in position to win the first game of what is a crucial weekend series for the Tigers.

“Tonight was really big for me and then Alex (Eubanks) following up behind me,” he said. “We did a good job and we attacked early. It lets NC State know that they are not going to walk all over us. They are going to have to earn everything they get because any guy we bring in is going to pound the strike zone and do their job.”

Eubanks came in the seventh inning and closed the game to earn his second save of the season. He allowed just one run on four hits in three innings of work.

“I think it was a good day, not just for the pitching staff, but for the hitters as well. We just set the tone for not just tonight, but how we are going to play for the rest of the weekend,” Barnes said. “Anytime you go out there and throw well, it helps your confidence. Right now, there are a lot of guys on our team that a lot of people think may not have confidence, but we are really a confident group and we believe in anything we can do.

“It is definitely good to go out there and show people what you can do, and get people to believe in you.”

[protected-iframe id=”f48afe8fdb9e80b9341d6b792efb5e0c-92644261-87872972″ info=”//delivery.vidible.tv/jsonp/pid=572e1662e4b0cda137061f3e/551439241146fb0d084da456.js” class=”vdb_player vdb_572e1662e4b0cda137061f3e551439241146fb0d084da456″ height=”360″ width=”640″]