When Corey Hassel took Pat Krall’s 1-0 pitch to left field for a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning, the little life the Clemson Tigers had left in its 2016 season went out of Doug Kingsmore Stadium with it.
Hassel’s grand slam was all No. 2 Oklahoma State needed to beat the top-seeded Tigers, 9-2, on Sunday night to win the Clemson Regional. While the Cowboys are moving on to the Super Regional round to play the winner of Monday’s UNC-Wilmington-South Carolina game, Clemson’s season comes to an unexpected end in what has been a great first season under head coach Monte Lee.
“First and foremost, I want to give Oklahoma State a lot of credit. One of the best ball clubs we’ve played this year,” Lee said afterwards. “Their starting pitcher did an outstanding job, and offensively they had really good approaches. They played a high level of baseball.
“Josh Holliday and his staff do an outstanding job and deserve a lot of credit, and I’m a Oklahoma State fan now. I hope they make it all the way to Omaha.”
Though the Tigers (44-20) kept their season going for another game on Sunday with a 15-3 victory over Western Carolina earlier in the day, it did not last much longer because Oklahoma State’s Jensen Elliott was dealing for much of the night.
Elliott, a freshman, outdueled Clemson’s All-ACC pitcher, Pat Krall, with a barrage of pitches. The 6-foot-6, 202-pound righty went six innings in getting the win. He handcuffed the Tigers with his cutter, his fastball, his changeup and then would use a nasty breaking ball as his out pitch on full counts.
“Offensively, we couldn’t find a way to get anything going early in the game. We had some chances late in the game, and then Oklahoma State threw up a big inning when we were within striking distance to extend their lead,” Lee said. “Overall, their two starting pitchers that we saw did a really good job, they played good defensively and didn’t really give us a lot of opportunities.”
Elliott’s last pitch of the night was a breaking ball to Reed Rohlman with runners on first and second and two outs in the top of the sixth inning. Rohlman chased the breaking ball to go down on strikes, ending the Tigers’ best opportunity to get multiple runs.
It was the third time Elliott struck out Rohlman with the breaking ball and his eighth of the game. He also struck out Seth Beer on a breaking ball with two strikes in the fourth inning and got Mike Triller looking on the same pitch in the fifth inning.
“Right now it’s tough. There’s a lot of emotions,” Beer said on the season coming to an end. “There’s a lot of good friends I’ve made, and it’s tough knowing it was some of their last times in a Clemson uniform. The season hasn’t really set in yet because what comes first is picking my teammates up as they’ve picked me up all season.”
While Elliott was dealing, Krall gave up a run in the bottom of the first inning when Conor Costello doubled to right centerfield with two outs to score Donnie Walton.
Krall kept it at 1-0 until the bottom of the fifth inning when Jon Littell singled to start the inning. Collin Theroux then reached on a Krall error and J.R. Davis reached on fielder’s choice to load the bases for Hassel’s grand slam.
Costello later hit a home run in the bottom of the seventh inning off reliever Alex Bostic to extend the lead to 6-2.
The Cowboys (39-20) blew the game open in the bottom of the seventh inning with four more runs. After Costello’s solo shot to left field, Littell doubled to left field to plate two more runs and Theroux got an RBI sac fly to make the score 9-2.
Oklahoma State finished the game with 12 hits.
Clemson finally got to Elliott in the top of the sixth inning as Eli White got a two-out single and then Beer singled through the right side. Then on a 1-0 pitch, Chris Okey recorded his 74th RBI of the season with a base hit to centerfield, bringing White home.
It could be his last RBI in a Clemson uniform. Okey is expected to be drafted on Thursday in the MLB Draft.
“It felt very good. I was appreciative. We have the best fans in the country here, and I can’t thank them enough for the things they’ve done,” said Okey about the standing ovation he received from the fans after his last at-bat. “We came into the season with not much expectations, but to be able to ride out the year we had is special.
“I’m thankful for my teammates. It’s fun to play with the guys I played with, it’s fun to be a Clemson Tiger, and it was a heck of a year.”
Like he did so many times, Elliott went to his breaking ball on the full count to Rohlman to end the threat after Okey’s run scoring single.
The Tigers threatened to score some more runs in the seventh after Oklahoma State reliever Garrett Williams plucked Weston Wilson and then gave up an infield single to K.J. Bryant. A passed ball moved both runners up to second and third, and Chris Williams’ long flyball to left field scored Wilson for Clemson’s second run.
But, OSU closer Trey Cobb struck out Andrew Cox to get the second out and after giving up a walk to Chase Pinder he got White to swing at a changeup on a 3-2 pitch to end the inning and Clemson’s last real chance to make anything happen.
“This was a group of overachievers, and I’m very proud of them,” Lee said. “The relationships I’ve developed with this team is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. This team, I can’t say enough about their heart and dedication to this school, to this team and to their program.
“It was a lot of fun, and I’m obviously disappointed that it came to an end, but I couldn’t be prouder of our players.”
–Photo by Kaila Burns-Heffner