By Will Vandervort.

In five of Clemson’s six losses prior to Wednesday, pitching has let it down. But with No. 18 College of Charleston in town, the Tigers got a solid outing from starter Clate Schmidt and then Alex Bostic came on in the top of the seventh inning with the bases load and no outs and retired three straight to end the threat and secure Clemson’s 6-3 victory.

“Knowing it was a good opponent and knowing it was a big game, I just had to come in there and get ahead of batters, throw strikes and make important pitches to make sure we got out of the inning with no runs,” Bostic said.

Taylor Vetzel came on in the bottom of the ninth inning after Bostic loaded the bases with one out to save the game as he allowed only one run to score. It was the Tigers first save since Pat Krall recorded a save in Clemson’s victory over Gardner-Webb on April 15. It was just the eighth of the season. It was Vetzel’s second.

Clemson (25-24) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when Steven Duggar singled through the left side to bring Eli White home from first. On the two-out play, White was taking off on a hit-and-run, when Duggar smacked a shot just out of the reach of shortstop Camp Rowland.

The Tigers extended it 2-0 in the fourth when Tyler Slaton singled through the right side to score Chris Okey.

The College of Charleston (35-10) tied the game in the top of the fifth inning when Bradley Jones sent a shot to left field for a two-run home run. It was his eighth home run of the season.

But Clemson answered with three runs of its own in the bottom of the fifth inning when Robert Jolly doubled down the left field line to lead things off, White followed with a single to right field and then Duggar doubled to left centerfield.

Duggar’s hit brought home Jolly and Tyler Krieger grounded to short to score White from third. Reed Rohlman then singled up the middle to plate Duggar for a 5-2 lead.

Duggar finished the game with two hits and two RBIs. Slaton also had two hits and drove home a run. Eli White led the Tigers with three hits.

“After coming off last night’s loss, I think the guys got back, we rested up, regrouped and played a complete game today,” Duggar said. “Top to bottom the defense was solid. Clate came out and gave us a good performance. Bos came in  and made some huge pitches. Charlie Barnes did great. So we played well today, all the way around.”

The Cougars threatened to take the lead in the seventh inning when they loaded the bases on reliever Kevin Pohle thanks to a passed ball, a single through the right side and then another hit through the left side of the infield.

But Bostic came on and struck out two batters and induced a flyball to right field to end the inning.

Schmidt started the game and, except for his one mistake to Jones, he pitched well. He gave up just four hits in five innings and had four strikeouts.

“We had a complete game. I thought we pitched really well,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said. “Clate went out there and gave us five good innings. Alex Bostic came in with the bases loaded and nobody out and did a tremendous job getting out of that. That was a huge part of the game. Then he gave us some good inning after that.”

Baton’s sacrifice fly to score Slaton in the bottom of the eighth inning extended Clemson’s lead to 6-2. The Cougars added one run in the top of the ninth after loading the bases again, this time with one out, but  Vetzel shut them down to end the game and Clemson’s three-game losing streak.

The win was Leggett’ 240th of his career against ranked opponents.

“That’s nice. But you only feel as good as your last one,” Leggett said. “They are a good ballclub. They have played exceptionally well all night long. We expected a tough ballgame and they gave it to us.

“It was nice to get another good win against a good team. Hopefully, we can carry that on to the weekend.”

The Tigers will host Georgia Southern in a three-game series starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.