SOUTH BEND, Ind. — How into the game was Eli White in No. 18 Clemson’s 11-1 victory over Notre Dame on Friday night?

He was pretty into it.

So into in fact, the Tigers’ shortstop had no idea he could have had an opportunity to hit for the cycle had teammate Chase Pinder reached base with two outs in the top of the ninth inning.

“I was not even thinking about that,” White said afterwards. “I did not know I was even a home run short of the cycle. I kind of found that out right after the game.”

White opened his night with a double to left field in the top of the first inning to set up the Tigers’ first two runs of the game. He then singled up the middle in the sixth inning, and then in the eighth inning he tripled to the gap in left centerfield scoring Pinder for Clemson’s eighth run.

The junior finished the game with three hits in five at-bats, his second three-hit game of the season.

“Boy, he played great today,” Clemson head coach Monte Lee said. “He played really, really great for us defensively, and offensively he was really good for us today. Hopefully, he can catch fire.”

White may not have caught fire just yet, but he sure is providing a consistent spark. In the last 20 games, the Easley, S.C., product has quietly hit safely in 16 of them and is batting .304 (24-of-79) with 10 RBIs. He carries a nine-game hitting streak into today’s third game at Notre Dame.

“He also gives you a stolen base threat every time he gets on the bases. He is just a really good player,” Lee said. “He is playing hard. That’s another thing that has been impressive about him. Even when he may struggle, offensively, he still plays hard.”

White’s hard play got the Tigers (37-18, 15-14 ACC) going when he doubled to left field in the top of the first, which moved Pinder to third base with no outs. Seth Beer and Chris Okey later brought both runners home for a 2-0 lead.

“That was huge. We wanted to get off to a good start and get things rolling early so it is always good when you can put a couple of runs on the board early in the ballgame,” White said. “We came out and executed and had some good at-bats right out of the gate.”

After the Irish (27-26, 11-16 ACC) scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to cut into Clemson’s lead, the Tigers responded with three runs in the seventh and eighth innings and two more in the ninth to outscore Notre Dame 8-0 in the final three innings.

“That’s a big key for us. That is something we want to do every game … win the last nine outs,” White said. “We put some really good at-bats together at the end of the game and we were able to do that.”

And thanks to White’s play in the Notre Dame series (4-for-10, RBI) the Tigers have an opportunity to go for their seventh season-series sweep. Clemson is 6-1 in sweep opportunities this year.

“It’s huge. Anytime you can sweep a team, it’s big, especially now when we are getting towards tournament time and everything. It is a big game,” White said. “We have to come out ready and I feel strongly that we will do that.”

First pitch for Clemson and Notre Dame today is set for 1:05 p.m.

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