Mack Anglin set the tone on the bump. Clemson’s offense took care of the rest.

And the Tigers got their 2022 season off to a fast start Friday.

Clemson got five shutout innings out of its sophomore right-hander, and the Tigers cruised to a 9-0 win over Indiana in both teams’ season opener at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Anglin combined with relievers Ty Olenchuck, Billy Barlow and Alex Edmondson to spin a three-hitter in the Tigers’ fifth straight season-opening win.

“Anglin is certainly more sharp and a more complete pitcher this year, and that showed today,” Clemson coach Monte Lee said. “And the rest of the guys that threw after him, I just thought we did an outstanding job of pounding the strike zone. And we played pretty good defense today, too, in the infield.”

Clemson (1-0) will go for the series win when Lee gives the ball to sophomore Kyle Clayton for Saturday’s 3 p.m. start. The fellow right-hander will be following up a dominant outing from Anglin, who didn’t allow a hit and struck out eight to notch the win against an IU team that’s made three of the last four NCAA Tournaments.

Only three baserunners reached against Anglin (1-0), who retired the first five batters he faced. A hit batter followed by a walk in the second inning was the only time IU got a runner in scoring position against him. He worked three clean innings, including a 1-2-3 fifth that ended his day after 82 pitches.

Anglin had a 3.99 earned run average in eight starts last season but has been working with pitching coach Andrew See on a plan to improve on that, which includes being more aggressive with a fastball that touched 95 miles per hour Friday. It helped Anglin get ahead with first-pitch strikes to seven of the first nine batters he faced.

“With the plan Coach See laid out this fall and even in the preseason, that was just our focus was work with the fastball,” Anglin said. “It kind of makes everything easier when you can get ahead with that pitch because then you have your full arsenal. I thought we executed that pretty well today.”

The Hoosiers didn’t record their first hit until Bobby Whalen singled against Olenchuck with two outs in the top of the sixth, but Clemson had already built a 6-0 lead by that point.

“I would say job not only well done but a great job of getting strike one,” Lee said. “I’d have to look at the video, but I think a majority of those pitches were fastballs. He did a great job of locating his fastball, getting ahead of their guys and being able to finish with the breaking ball.”

The Tigers quickly went to work in getting Anglin some run support, plating three runs in their first at-bat of the season. Clemson sent eight batters to the plate in the home half of the first against right-hander John-Biagio Modugno with five of the first six reaching on singles. 

Cooper Ingle, Chad Fairey and Blake Wright each had RBI knocks in the frame. Dayton transfer Ben Blackwell added to Clemson’s lead in the second with a solo home run in his first at-bat as a Tiger, sending Modugno’s sinking fastball deep into the left-field seats.

Blackwell, who’s replacing James Parker as Clemson’s shortstop, homered just six times in three seasons with the Flyers.

“We kind of talked about in the pregame plan that I was going to focus on one side of the plate,” Blackwell said. “That pitch was there, and I put a good swing on it.”

First baseman Caden Grice, the Tigers’ top returning hitter from last season, went 3-for-4 at the plate and scored two runs. Ingle and Blackwell each drove in two runs for Clemson, which finished with nine hits.

Clemson chased Modugno (0-1) with two more runs in the home half of the fourth that stretched its lead to 6-0. Modugno, who allowed eight hits and walked two while striking out four, left with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the frame, but reliever Reese Sharp got Bryar Hawkins and Grice swinging after a sacrifice fly to limit the Tigers’ damage.

Clemson had a hard time solving Sharp, who struck out seven in three innings before leaving with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the seventh. The Tigers struck out 17 times but also took advantage of an overall lack of command among Modugno, Sharp and left-hander Ryan Craft, who combined to issue eight walks and throw multiple wild pitches.

“Feel like we need to be a little bit better the third and fourth time through the order when they bring in relievers that can spin it a little bit,” Lee said. “We’ve got to do a better job of laying off offspeed pitches out of the zone.

“We need to be a little bit more disciplined, and I talked to the guys about that. We need to play nine innings of focused baseball.”

Clemson tacked on two more runs in the seventh, which was more than enough cushion for Olenchuk, Barlow and Edmondson.

Olenchuck tossed two innings of three-hit relief, getting a groundout and a double play to strand four IU baserunners. Barlow, a freshman right-hander, worked a clean eighth in his first appearance as a Tiger, and Edmondson did the same in the ninth to cap a strong debut for this year’s Clemson squad.

“Those guys coming in after me, that was electric,” Anglin said. “I don’t know how many times the game is 9-0 and then you have a dugout buzzing like that. That’s just a credit to those guys.”

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