Clemson holds off FSU, takes series from Seminoles

Clemson coach Erik Bakich said last weekend that he felt like his team was close to putting everything together and going on a run.

After the way the Tigers played against Florida State this weekend, it appears that he was right.

Clemson took Game 3 of its series against FSU with a 6-2 win on Saturday to clinch the series.

Clemson dropped Game 1 on Thursday, before winning each of the next two games, including an 8-1 victory Friday night. With the win, Clemson improves to 19-14 (4-8). Florida State falls to 13-18 (4-11) with the loss.

This was Clemson’s first ACC series win of the year.

“A great series win on the road. Proud of our guys for the way they stepped up and backed up a good performance yesterday with a good performance today,” Bakich said.

Junior Caden Grice had a big game on the mound and at the plate for the Tigers, pitching 6 1/3 innings, while allowing only two runs, to earn the win. Grice improved to 2-1 with the victory. His ERA is 3.41 on the year.

At the plate, the lefty was 2-for-4 with a grand slam to lead Clemson.

“I think it was a fastball,” Grice said of his grand slam. “Two outs, loading the bases, getting walks ahead [of me], I think that was a big deal, and I appreciate my teammates for doing that.”

Clemson got on the board in the first inning on an RBI double by Blake Wright. The Tigers pushed their lead to 2-0 in the second on a Cooper Ingle RBI single, before Grice hit a grand slam to finish off the scoring.

The six runs through two innings ended up being all Clemson needed.

“A great pitching start from Caden Grice, and then the first two innings we had six two-out RBIs,” Bakich said. “Two-out RBIs are worth their weight in gold, and to get six of them out of the shoot, highlighted by Caden Grice’s two-out grand slam, was a big blow.”

In addition to Grice, reliever Nick Clayton also had an excellent day on the mound.

Clayton allowed only one hit in 2 2/3 scoreless innings of work. He struck out three batters, while lowering his ERA to 1.71 on the year.

“Excellent pitching all day from Grice and Clayton,” Bakich said. “Excellent defense all day long and just a really good team win and really good series win.”