By Will Vandervort.
By Will Vandervort
As Shane Kennedy was walking back to the dugout after striking out with no outs and one on in the bottom of the 11th inning, Steven Duggar asked him, “What was the last pitch?”
“He said it was a slider and I knew he hung it,” Duggar said. “I wouldn’t say that I was necessarily sitting on a slider, but I knew I was going to get it eventually on that at-bat.”
He got it four pitches into the at-bat, and like he was expecting, Wake Forest’s Connor Kaden hung the slider up in the strike zone. Duggar made him pay dearly as he took the 2-1 offering over the wall in right field, lifting 17th-ranked Clemson to a 6-4 victory in 11 innings.
“I was fortunate enough to get one, he hung it and I got a pretty good swing on it,” Duggar said.
With catcher Garrett Boulware standing on second base with two outs, Duggar felt he hit the ball well enough that it was going to be extra bases and could possibly score Boulware, but what he did not realize was that he hit the ball well enough it landed three rows deep in right field, right in front of the Cajun Café.
“I didn’t think I hit it out, honestly, because I do not think I have that much power,” the freshman said.
It was Duggar’s first home run at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, which already added to his excitement, but to do it in the bottom of the 11th to win an ACC game and have the entire team meet you at home plate as you come around third, that’s something totally different.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “We are one big family out here. We are with each other all the time and you know it is good to know we all have each other’s back.”
Duggar finished the afternoon 3-for-5 and drove in four of Clemson’s six runs. He was the second freshman this week to drive in the game-winning run on the last at-bat. Shortstop Tyler Krieger drove in the game-ending run in the Tigers’ 5-4 win over Presbyterian.
“These guys are good players,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said. “(Duggar) has been good for us all year long. He is a clutch guy. Nothing seems to bother him and is very competitive. I expected a base hit. I did not expect a home run, but I’ll take it.”
Krieger also drove in what turned out to be the game-winning run in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Wake, but that came in the bottom of the fifth inning.
“Tyler is a great guy, great friend, one of my best friends and we decided in the fall that we were going to be the two guys to step up and make plays and we have been fortunate enough to keep doing it,” Duggar said.
Sunday’s dramatic win was Clemson’s 10 straight overall and seventh straight in the ACC, the longest winning streak for both since the 2006 team won 17 straight overall and 12 straight in the conference. It was also the third time this week as the Tigers scored the game-winning run in their last at-bat.
Clemson beat Western Carolina last Tuesday when Jon McGibbon had a two-out single in the top of the ninth in the Tigers’ 12-9 win.
“We just keep finding different ways to win,” pitcher Scott Firth said. “Throughout the game we had opportunities to push that go-ahead run across, but I knew as long as I could keep us in the game and kept it tied out there, eventually we would come through somewhere and win the game.”
Firth, like he did at North Carolina on April 1, picked up his second win in extra innings and his fourth overall. He pitched the last three innings for Clemson (26-11, 12-6 ACC) to improve his record to 4-4 on the mound. He gave up only one hit and struck out four in earning the victory.
Firth got the save in Saturday’s 1-0 victory as well. He now has two wins and two saves since moving into the closer’s role.
“He looks really good there and looks comfortable,” Leggett said. “We are going to keep him right there.”
And why not, it is working, like a lot of things are for the Tigers, right now. Whether it is getting a two-out run scoring hit in the ninth from McGibbon or Krieger’s game-ending hit against Presbyterian or Duggar’s two-run blast on Sunday, Clemson is finding ways to win games and it is doing it with style.
“I’m pleased with how we have played,” Leggett said. “I’m pleased with how we kept our head in the game and kept our poise in winning these close ballgames so hopefully that’s going to end up being one of our best qualities before it is all over.”