Another day, another thriller, another win for the Tigers (2024)

CLEMSON – In 2023, a long ball in the ninth inning sent Tennessee to the winner’s bracket, but this year, it fell just short and into Tristan Bissetta’s glove to preserve a 4-3 win over Coastal Carolina in the Clemson Regional.

The Tigers will now await the winner of the Chanticleers and High Point at 6 p.m. Sunday. High Point defeated Vanderbilt 10-9 in Saturday’s first game to eliminate the Commodores. First pitch of the elimination game is scheduled for noon.

Clemson improved to 43-14 while Coastal Carolina fell to 35-24.

Seneca native Jacob McGovern picked up the win with his third of an inning to pick up the final out of the eighth inning. He improved to 3-0 on the season. Austin Gordon pitched a clean ninth and picked up his tenth save of the season. Cameron Flukey fell to 3-3 on the season with the loss.

"Great game, and a quality start from Aidan Knaak," head coach Erik Bakichs aid. "And then all the bullpen guys that came in doing a job and executing in one way or the other, whether it was in there for one hitter like Jacob McGovern or to get a save like Austin Gordon. But these two guys, Jacob Hinderleider and Camp Cannarella really accounted for the majority of the offense. Hindi with 5-for-5. Five hits today, Cam with three RBI, just really making stuff happen at the top and middle of the order. And the runs were tough to come by and in tournament baseball and everything's heightened, that's the way it can be sometimes. But luckily for us again, the superpower of this team is the believability that we're going to do it, and where we've played so many close games this year, this has helped us in games like this because we're very comfortable in one-run games. So proud of our guys, proud of them for staying in the winner's bracket, but we know the job's not done and we'll need to finish it off tomorrow."

Alden Mathes scored three of the Tigers' four runs without registering a hit in the game. Jacob Hinderleider was a perfect five-for-five in the game and scored a run. Blake Wright had one RBI and Cam Cannarella had three RBI in the game. The Tigers left ten on base in the game.

Mathes hit the second pitch he saw down the first base line, and it skipped just over the first baseman’s glove, and he moved to third on a single to center by Hinderleider. Wright followed with a long flyball to right field that allowed Mathes to tag and score from third, giving Clemson an early 1-0 lead.

The third inning started off a lot like the first. Mathes took the first pitch off the arm and Hinderleider singled to center to put runners at first and second. Wright followed with a hard-hit ball off the chest of the third baseman to load the bases with no outs. Cannarella hit a rocket to center field that was caught but allowed Mathes to score, giving the Tigers a 2-0 lead.

Coastal got a run back on a Sam Antonacci homer to right-centerfield to cut Clemson’s lead to 2-1 after three innings.

The Chanticleers got the first two runners on in the sixth inning and had runners at the corners with nobody out. Knaak got a strikeout for the first out, but Blake Barthol laid down a bunt that died in front of home plate. Obertop couldn’t handle the gloved toss from Knaak, allowing the runner from third to score to tie the game at 2-2 after six innings.

Chanticleer starter Henry Weycker’s day was done after six innings in favor of Bryce Shaffer. Weyker gave up two runs – none earned – on six hits. He walked two and struck out three. He threw 83 total pitches – 49 for strikes.

Hinderleider continued his big day at the plate with a one-out double off the left field wall. He advanced to third on a groundball to short and scored on a single up the middle by Cannarella to give Clemson a 3-2 lead in the seventh.

Clemson replaced Aidan Knaak after six innings with Lucas Mahlstedt. The freshman gave up two runs on six hits. He struck out six and walked none. He threw 90 pitches – 62 for strikes.

Ty Barrango quickly tied the game with a one-out solo shot to right field.

Drew tit*worth replaced Mahlstedt after 1.1 innings. Mahlstedt gave up one run – on the solo homer – struck out one and walked one.

Leading off the ninth inning, Mathes was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game. Hinderleider continued his perfect day with a single to split the gap in left-center that put runners on the corners. Wright popped up just beyond the infield for the first out of the inning, but Cannarella picked him with a long flyball out to the wall in left that allowed Mathes to tag at third and give Clemson the go-ahead 4-3 advantage.

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