No. 20 Clemson scored five runs in the first inning and cruised to a 13-1 victory over the College of Charleston on Tuesday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers bounced back from a series loss to Notre Dame over the weekend and improved to 15-5 on the season, while the Cougars dropped to 13-7.

“Great game today on pretty much all ends,” Clemson head coach Monte Lee said. “First and foremost, our pitching was outstanding.”

Senior right-handed pitcher Brooks Crawford got the start for the Tigers and allowed just four hits across 4.1 scoreless innings, walking none and striking out one. It marked Crawford’s first appearance since March 1 due to injury, and he was on a pitch count before being replaced by reliever Sheldon Reed after throwing 59 pitches.

Crawford (1-1) was credited with the win despite not pitching five innings, as the Tigers announced before the game that he was going to be on a pitch count. Junior righty Steven Cook (3-2) took the loss for the Cougars as he lasted just 0.1 innings and yielded five earned runs on four hits.

“It was great to get Brooks Crawford back on the mound,” Lee said. “He threw the ball very well for us.”

Junior shortstop Logan Davidson crushed a two-run home run to jumpstart Clemson’s five-run first inning. Sam Hall led off the inning with a single and then stole his 11th base of the season before scoring on Davidson’s blast that went well over the right-field wall for his team-leading seventh homer of the season.

The Tigers added another run for a 3-0 advantage when Kyle Wilkie scored on a passed ball after hitting a single and advancing to third on a base hit by Davis Sharpe.

Clemson pushed across two more runs in the first after loading the bases with one out. Following a walk by Bryce Teodosio that scored Sharpe, Jordan Greene hit a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Bo Majkowski, who was hit by a pitch earlier in the inning.

The Tigers extended their lead in the bottom of the third inning thanks to a three-run home run by Greene. After Majkowski reached on a fielding error and advanced to third on a double down the left-field line by Adam Hackenberg, the senior Greene belted his third homer of the season over the left-field wall to give Clemson an 8-0 advantage.

The Tigers tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth courtesy of a sacrifice fly to center field by Wilkie that plated Davidson to make the score 9-0.

The Cougars spoiled Clemson’s shutout bid and scored their lone run of the contest in the top of the sixth inning. Dupree Hart singled through the left side with one out, stole second base with two outs and came around to score on a throwing error by Grayson Byrd.

The Tigers further blew the game open in the bottom of the eighth inning, scoring four more runs to take a 13-1 lead. Davidson picked up his third RBI when he hit a grounder to the shortstop to score James Parker, who led off the inning with a single up the middle. A couple of batters later, Matt Cooper doubled down the right-field line to send Davidson and Hall home. Bryar Hawkins then grounded out to second base for an RBI, with Elijah Henderson scoring on the play.

Clemson scored its 13 runs on nine hits and made one error, while the College of Charleston finished with the one run, six hits and two errors.

“Overall we did a lot of good things today, and it was a great win,” Lee said.

Clemson and the College of Charleston will complete their two-game series when they square off at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Segra Park in Columbia, S.C.