CLEMSON, S.C. – The Notre Dame baseball team battled until the final out in a 2-1 final at No. 10 Clemson on Friday evening.
The Tigers plated a run in the bottom of the first on a hard-hit ball up the middle with two outs. Jack Radel induced a flyout to Brady Gumpf in right field to close out the inning for the Irish defense.
Estevan Moreno battled through a 13-pitch at-bat in the top of the second but was unable to come out on top of the plate appearance. After the home plate umpire was injured with a hard foul ball, the game came to a 14-minute halt as the third base umpire moved behind the plate.
Jack Radel sat down the first batter of the second with a strikeout, and a fly ball was easily collected in right field by Gumpf for the second out of the inning. Two batters later, Radel collected his second strikeout of the inning.
Noah Coy drew a two-out walk, and the hit-and-run saw Coy move to third on a single the other way by Jared Zimbardo. The pair, however, were unable to advance any further in the inning. Jack Radel snagged a come-back grounder, Carson Tinney cut down a runner trying to steal, and Radel dialed up another strikeout to quickly shut down the Tigers in the third.
Clemson added a run in the bottom of the fourth to go ahead 2-0. Jayce Lee ripped a long fly ball that was barely foul in the top of the fifth as the Irish continued to battle in their at-bats.
After Clemson put a pair of runners in scoring position, Parker Brzustewicz tracked down a pop up in foul territory and made the catch at the fence to slam the door on a scoring chance for the Tigers in the bottom of the fifth.
Ricky Reeth came on in relief in the bottom of the sixth and quickly retired the side in order. The senior right-hander forced the Tigers into stranding a runner in the seventh to keep the score at 2-0.
Brady Gumpf beat out a single up the middle to start off the top of the eighth as the Irish continued to battle. Two batters later, Jayce Lee bounced a single the opposite way to put a pair aboard. The bounces did not go the Notre Dame way, however, as the pair were unable to advance any further.
Oisin Lee entered in the bottom of the eighth, and the freshman used three strikeouts to retire the side to again get the Irish up to bat. Parker Brzustewicz dropped a single into shallow center field to get the lead-off man on base. Two batters later, Davis Johnson pushed a single through the right side of the infield to put runners on the corners. A slow dribbler by Estevan Moreno drove in Brzustewicz with two outs as the Irish pulled within one. The comeback, however, stopped there as the Tigers closed out the 2-1 final.
The Irish pitching staff and defense held the Tigers to six runs below their season average (8.61 runs per game). Jack Radel went 5.0 on the mound and struck out four while scattering four hits and allowing only one earned run. Ricky Reeth went two complete and struck out two. Oisin Lee struck out all three batters he faced in one complete inning of work.
Parker Brzustewicz had a hit and scored a run. Jared Zimbardo, Davis Johnson, Brady Gumpf, and Jayce Lee each added a hit for the Irish. Estevan Moreno picked up an RBI on the night.
The Irish (10-5, 0-4 ACC) are back in action against the Tigers on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.