CLEMSON — Before the season even began, Clemson third baseman Blake Wright gathered his team together and told them they will not go down without a fight this season. They will fight until the bitter end if they have to in every game.
Well, that is what they did on Sunday.
The No. 6 national seeded Tigers fought to the very end before losing to Florida, 11-10, in Game 2 of the Clemson Super Regional at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers even fought with the umpires.
Clemson head coach Erik Bakich, assistant coach Griffin Mazur and development coach Jack Leggett were all tossed in the 13th inning following Alden Mathes’s go-ahead home run with two outs.
On the field, Clemson rallied several times from multiple-run-deficits to give itself a chance to win the game. Cam Cannarella’s three-run shot to right field with one out in the top of the ninth inning forced extra innings, while his Willie Mays-like-catch to end the bottom of the 10th gave the Tigers hope.
Pitcher Austin Gordon kept the Tigers in the game throughout extra innings, as he threw five innings, allowing two runs on two hits, while striking out a career-high 10 batters.
When Mathes launched his bomb to right field, which hit off the top of the batting cages, with two outs in the top of 13th, it appeared the Cardiac Cats had done it again.
Twenty-five times this season Clemson rallied to win games, and this one appeared to have kept their season alive for at least another day.
“We fought hard. Team 127 is always going to be about never being out of a fight,” third baseman Blake Wright said after the game.
Florida (34-28) led throughout the afternoon. The Gators jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a Jac Caglianone bomb to centerfield.
After Wright gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead with a two-run shot of his own in the third inning, Florida rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the third and then went up 5-3 on a Colby Shelton two-run single in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Jimmy Obertop hit a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning to pull Clemson within one, but the Gators answered with a two-run home run by Brody Donay in the bottom of the sixth.
Clemson gained some life in the top of the eighth inning when Cannarella singled to right field to score Wright and freshman Tryston McCladdie followed with a one-out base knock through the right side to score Cannarella.
Again, Florida answered with a two-run homer from Ashton Wilson in the bottom of the eighth that appeared to seal Clemson’s fate. However, with one out in the top of the ninth inning Jacob Hinderleider singled through the left side of the infield and Wright hit safely to center, setting up Cannarella’s bomb to right to tie the game at 9-9.
“Shoutout to Coach Bakich and all the coaches for leading this program in such an awesome way,” Wright said. “This is program is back on the right path.”
Clemson finished the 2024 season at 44-16 after advancing to its first Super Regional in 14 years.
“Today was a tough way to go down, but I think we have this program right where we want it to be,” Gordon said.
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