SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame (14-14, 2-12) narrowly fell 3-2 to No. 2 Clemson (27-3, 9-2 ACC) Saturday night, as a ninth-inning comeback attempt fell short for the Irish.
RHP Jack Radel (2-1) went a career-high 5.0 innings, starting on the mound for the Irish Saturday night, allowing two runs and taking the loss. RHP Caden Spivey finished out the last 4.0 innings, allowing four hits and one run.
OF T.J. Williams and OF David Glancy led the Irish with two hits each. Brady Gumpf entered to pinch-hit in the bottom of the ninth and sent a solo homer to pull within one of the Tigers, but the Irish were unable to add. It marked Gumpf’s fourth homer of the season.
Notre Dame marked its highest home attendance of the last two seasons on Saturday with 1,250 in attendance. It marks the highest figure for the Irish since April 23, 2022 (1,865 attendance).
HOW IT HAPPENED
Radel dealt a strikeout in the first, conceding two walks but holding Clemson off the board. Glancy delivered a one-out single in the bottom of the inning, but was left on base after two subsequent outs.
Clemson was held hitless and scoreless in the second, only placing one on base on a walk. After a leadoff groundout in the bottom of the second, OF Tito Flores hit his first triple of the season, but two outs stranded him on base.
The Tigers led off the third with a single, but two flyouts and another strikeout from Radel thwarted hopes in the inning. After an Irish strikeout in the bottom half, Williams singled, and Glancy forced an error to reach first as Williams took third. INF Estevan Moreno sent a sac fly to right field, and Williams sped home to put the Irish on the board first, 1-0.
Clemson responded in the fourth with a leadoff solo homer to tie the score, but the Irish retired the next three batters, including another strikeout from Radel, his third of the game. Notre Dame went three up, three down to head to the fifth with a 1-1 tie.
After a flyout for Clemson to lead off, the Tigers homered to right field to take a 2-1 lead. A flyout and groundout limited the damage and sent the Irish to bat. With two outs, Williams took a HBP and Glancy followed with a single, but a strikeout ended the inning.
In the top of the sixth, Spivey entered to pitch for Notre Dame. After forcing two outs, he allowed a single, but flashed the leather to grab a grounder for the third out. INF Simon Baumgardt led off the bottom of the sixth with a single, but was tagged out on his attempt to reach second base. INF Jack Penney and Flores, the next two batters, were retired to send the game to the seventh.
After a popup to INF Connor Hincks at first, Clemson singled and walked to place two runners on base. Another single loaded the bases, and a sac fly increased Clemson’s lead to 3-1. A groundout to Penney ended the top half. Notre Dame was sat down in order in the bottom of the seventh.
Spivey posted two strikeouts in the eighth to sit Clemson down in order. Williams led off the bottom half with a single, and after a strikeout, Moreno singled in the infield off a full count. Baumgardt hit into a fielder’s choice to push Moreno to second and tagging Williams out at third, and Penney delivered a single to load the bases. A groundout ended the inning, stranding three on base for Notre Dame.
The Tigers led off the ninth with a single, but three subsequent groundouts held Clemson from scoring, and the Irish headed to bat. After two outs, Gumpf entered to pinch-hit, and his solo homer to left field gave the Irish hope. However, a subsequent groundout ended the game, giving Clemson a 3-2 win and series clinch.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame and Clemson return to Frank Eck Stadium Sunday for the series finale at 1 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on ACCNX.