By Will Vandervort.

Right fielder Steven Duggar said on Saturday Clemson was going to approach Sunday’s third game against Wake Forest as if it was opening day all over again. If that’s the case, the Tigers opened the new season with a 6-2 victory.

Clemson plated two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on an RBI single from Weston Wilson and an Andrew Cox sacrifice fly and then got a three-run home run for Eli White in the sixth. From there, pitcher Zack Erwin kept the Demon Deacons’ powerful offense at bay, limiting them to seven hits and two runs in eight innings of work.

Wake Forest, one of the ACC’s best offensive teams, had scored 15 runs in winning Games 1 and 2 of the series, marking the first time the Demon Deacons have won a three-game series at Clemson.

Despite it being a new season in the Tigers’ mind the fact is the old one still counts and Clemson is just 13-13 overall after the win and 5-7 in the ACC.  The 5-7 conference record, which includes loses in three of the first four ACC series, is tied for the second worst start for Jack Leggett coached-team.

The 13 wins in 26 games so far this year marks the worst start in Leggett’s head coaching career.

But Clemson is going to do its best to change all of that and it got off to a good start of it at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.  They took a 1-0 lead in the bottom on the second when White singled though the right side to score Chase Pinder.

Wilson’s base hit to right field scored Chris Okey for a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning and then Cox sac fly to left plated Pinder who had doubled earlier to set the Tigers up. In the sixth inning, White homered to left field to score Wilson, who walked on four pitches, and Cox, who singled to centerfield.

White’s three-run shot, the first home run of his career, gave the Tigers a 6-0 lead at the time. White finished the day 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs.

Though he did not get the shutout, Erwin pitched eight strong innings, allowing just one earned run on seven hits. He walked only one batter, too. He threw 112 pitches and improved his ERA from 3.47 to 3.05.

Wake Forest (19-11, 6-6 ACC) had runners on second and third with one out in the top of the second, but the lefty got Jonathan Pryor to ground out to the mound and then Nick Bisplingoff lined to right field to end the threat.

Stuart Fairfield reached second with two outs in the fourth inning for the Deacs, but Erwin got out of the situation by getting Keegan Maronpot to strike out swinging.

Erwin finished the day with seven strikeouts.

Wake did score two runs in the top of the eighth inning following a Reed Rohlman error, but Clemson was able to avoid being swept at home by Wake Forest for the first time as well snapping a four-game home losing streak.

Clemson will host Furman at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.