Tigers drop game they could not afford to lose

A week after sweeping then No. 4 Louisville at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, the Tigers were swept by Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

The Yellow Jackets completed the three-game sweep of Clemson with a 9-8 victory Sunday at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta.

The loss drops the Tigers to 22-21 overall and more importantly 15-15 in the ACC. Georgia Tech improved to 24-18 and 18-12 in the ACC.

With rival South Carolina coming to Clemson on Tuesday and with a three-game series at nationally-ranked Florida State next weekend, the Tigers have left themselves very little wiggle room when it comes to the possibility of making the NCAA Tournament.

Clemson has not missed the NCAA Baseball Tournament since it failed to make it in 2008, the only time it has missed the tournament since 1987.

Despite taking a 6-0 lead into the fourth inning, the Tigers could not hold it. Georgia Tech rallied thanks to seven straight hits to start the bottom part of the inning.

The Yellow Jackets finished the inning with seven runs on seven hits. John Anderson had a two-run home run to left field, while Stephen Reid brought home two runs with a double and an Andrew Jenkins’ single brought in another run. They also manufactured two more runs in the innings.

Clemson rallied to tie the game at 7-7 on a Sam Hall home run in the top of the sixth inning, but Jenkins hit a two-run blast in the bottom of the seventh inning for what turned out to be the game winner.

Dylan Brewer led off the eighth inning with a solo homer to right field, but Clemson could not bring in any more runs.

The Tigers scored five runs in the second inning, started by Bryce Teodosio’s bases-loaded walk. Two batters later, Kier Meredith belted a three-run triple, then Caden Grice lined a two-out double to score Meredith.

Brewer lofted a sacrifice fly in the third inning to give Clemson a 6-0 lead.

The Yellow Jackets responded with seven runs in the fourth inning after the first eight batters reached base. Anderson’s two-run homer highlighted the comeback.

Sam Crawford (3-4) earned the win for Georgia Tech, while Chance Huff pitched the ninth inning to record his second save of the year. Nick Clayton (6-2) suffered the loss.

The Tigers take on the Gamecocks Tuesday (6 p.m.) at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. This is a makeup game from earlier in the season when the game was postponed on Feb. 26. The Gamecocks won the first two games in the season series with wins in Greenville and in Columbia.

Clemson Athletics Communications contributed to this story

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