No. 13 Clemson righted the ship on Friday night behind a stellar night from freshman Davis Sharpe and an aggressive approach at the plate in the middle innings.

The Tigers defeated eighth ranked Louisville 5-1 in game one of a three game series in front of a friendly crowd at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. They fought behind a tremendous start from Sharpe who finished the day with 6.2 innings pitched allowing one run on four hits while walking one and striking out seven.

Sharpe’s performance on the mound allowed Clemson (23-7, 10-3 ACC) hitters to settle in at the plate after trying to find their feet against Cardinal pitcher Reid Detmers, who entered the game with a 0.92 ERA, in the first couple of innings.

Then the Tigers erupted in the third inning with four runs on three hits including a three-run homer from Logan Davidson followed by a solo homer by Kyle Wilkie. And, added another solo shot from Elijah Henderson in the fifth.

Clemson head coach Monte Lee was proud of the way Davis Sharpe performed on the mound facing a top notch team with a potential All-American in Detmers on the mound for the Cardinals.

“You had two dudes and Davis was better,” Lee said. “It says a lot about Sharpe and what he does every night to come out and have that start against a top-10 club,” he said.

Louisville (23-7, 9-4 ACC) jumped in front 1-0 in the top of the second with a two out run-scoring double off the bat of Justin Lavey that scored Alex Binelas.

In the bottom of the third, Clemson responded by jumping on the long ball with two outs in a four run third inning to surge ahead of Louisville 4-1.

Bryce Teodosio led off the bottom of the third with a double down the left field line but a strike out by Elijah Henderson and James Parker put the top of the lineup at the plate with two outs. Sam Hall drew a walk in a full count before Logan Davidson hit a three-run bomb over the grandstand in right field to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead.

Kyle Wilkie turned on the first pitch of the following at bat for a solo home run and moved Clemson’s lead to 4-1 entering the fourth inning and putting all the momentum in the Tiger dugout. Prior to Davidson’s homer Detmers had not allowed a homer in over 51 innings this season.

Lee was impressed with how his hitters fought of pitches in two-strike counts to put together the run in the third inning that changed the game.

“The third inning was huge for us and one of the most critical at bats of the whole game was Sam Hall fighting to get on base with a walk,” Lee said. “Davidson did the same thing fighting off pitch after pitch before the big three-run home run followed by the homer from Wilkie and we had a big inning,” he said.

Clemson continued to plague the Louisville lefty with the long ball in the bottom of the fifth.

Elijah Henderson hit the home run for the Tigers this time with a solo shot just inside the foul pole in left field to put Clemson ahead of the Cardinals 5-1. It was the first homer of Henderson’s career in a Tiger uniform.

Holt Jones came on to finish the job in 2.1 scoreless innings without surrendering a hit, walking one and striking out three.

The Tigers return to action for game two of the series Saturday at 5 p.m.