CLEMSON — It’s been 13 years since Clemson found itself in position to control an NCAA Regional.
So, when the top-seeded Tigers had to get an important out late in their 4-3 victory over No. 3 seed Coastal Carolina Saturday in the winner’s bracket game of the Clemson Regional, they turned things over to a crafty senior to pull them through.
Wait, that is not what happened at all.
Instead, Clemson head coach Erik Bakich, thanks to the pleads of pitching coach Jimmy Belanger, gave the baseball to a true freshman who grew up right down the road in Seneca, S.C.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and the go-ahead run on second base for Coastal Carolina, Jacob McGovern was asked to come in and get Dean Mihos out. It was an interesting call to the bullpen because Mihos batted right-handed and McGovern, a lefty, replaced righty Drew Titsworth.
“Coach Belanger was convicted,” Bakich said. “He wanted to do it. He had watched a lot of film and he felt like that was the right matchup.”
With 6,406 people packed into Doug Kingsmore Stadium, it seemed early on in the matchup that McGovern was not ready for the moment. His first two pitches missed the inside part of the plate.
However, he fought back.
He froze Mihos on a breaking ball for strike one and then evened the count at 2-2 when Coastal’s centerfielder fouled the fourth pitch off. With everyone in Doug Kingsmore standing and clapping for McGovern, the freshman threw a curveball that Mihos swung at and missed.
Mihos had no chance at hitting McGovern’s wicked curveball, which sent the crowd at Doug Kingsmore into a frenzy.
“We all saw what McGovern did (in the ACC Tournament) and we had a lot of confidence in him,” Bakich said. “He threw three pitches for strikes. What Coach Belanger saw on film, that was a good matchup in our favor and fortunately, it worked out.”
It also got the Clemson dugout excited, which centerfield Cam Cannarella agreed helped spark their ninth inning rally to ultimately win the game.
“It was a tied ballgame, and the crowd was getting into it. It was a two strike-count. He threw the curveball, and everybody got wild,” Cannarella said. “Like (Bakich) said, the crowd is the 10th Man and that is what we needed.”
Clemson (43-14) used the momentum from McGovern’s strikeout to push across what turned out to be the game winning run. After Alden Mathes was hit by a pitch to start the Tigers’ ninth, Jacob Hinderleider singled to left center to put runners on the corners with no outs.
A bater later, Cannarella laced a ball deep to leftfield, allowing Mathes to come home with the go-ahead run.
Austin Gordon came on in the bottom of the ninth inning and earned his 10th save, advancing Clemson to the championship round of the Clemson Regional.
“The runs were tough to come by. In tournament baseball, everything is heightened and that is the way it can be sometimes,” Bakich said. “Luckily for us, again, the superpower of the team is the believe ability that we are going to do it. We have played in so many close games this year, it has helped us in games like this. We are very comfortable in one-run games.”
And they were comfortable with putting a true freshman on the mound in the biggest moment of the game, with a chance to control the regional on the line.
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