By Will Vandervort.

By Will Vandervort

By the bottom of the fifth inning in the second game of its day-night doubleheader against Maryland Monday, Clemson already matched the number of hits it had combined in the first two games of the three-game series.

The Tigers finished the game with 12 hits, including four with two outs in the bottom of the first. Those four hits led to a four-run inning and from there, Clemson rolled to a 9-5 victory at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. With the win, and thanks to a 3-2 win earlier in the day, the Tigers improved to 7-1 in doubleheaders this year.

“It was good to get something going,” shortstop Tyler Krieger said. “It’s just baseball. There is a lot of failure. The good thing was that we were able to handle it and deal with it and trust and have confidence in our swing and comeback and have a good game.”

Clemson also improved to 57-4 all-time against Maryland at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in what was perhaps the Terrapins last trip to Clemson for some time.

“To get the sweep today was big,” said Krieger, who had two hits and drove in two runs for Clemson. “Coming in, we knew how important these two games were. (Maryland) is a good team. They are a very good team and are well coached. They do not go away at all.

“It was a battle, but we stayed in it the whole time. It was a grind for two games, but fortunately we got the two wins.”

Shane Kennedy, Jon McGibbon and Thomas Brittle had two-out RBI singles in the first inning and then three hits, including an RBI hit from Krieger, to spark a three-run bottom of the fifth inning for 7-0 lead.

The Tigers (32-15, 17-10 ACC) added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Garrett Boulware brought Steve Wilkerson home with a base hit to centerfield to make the score 8-0.

Clemson needed those extra runs after the Terps scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning thanks to three hits and a fielding error.

To add insult to injury, pitcher Clate Schmidt, who relieved starter Matthew Crownover, left the game after taking a line drive off the right wrist from Maryland shortstop Blake Schmit.

“He got hit pretty solid in the forearm and he is going to be sore for a while,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said. “I don’t think he broke anything, thank goodness, because the ball hit right in the middle of it… You can see the ‘Rawlings Baseball’ (imprint) on it. It hit hard. It hit flesh.”

Leggett said he has no idea how long Schmidt might be out.

Mike Kent and Matt Campbell eventually came in and put out the flames as Maryland (28-23, 9-18 ACC) got only one hit in the last three innings.

All in all, it was pretty good day for Clemson pitching. Freshman Zack Erwin gave up one run on five hits in six innings of work in Game 1 of the doubleheader, while Game 2 starter, Crownover, continued his great freshman season by pitching six scoreless innings in which he gave up just four hits.

“I felt good. It was not the best I have thrown all year, but I threw strikes and threw (the ball) where I wanted it to and good things happened,” said Crownover, who now has a 1.93 ERA.

Clemson hopes the good times will continue Tuesday against Furman as it plays its third game of a stretch in which it will be playing seven games in seven days. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.