CLEMSON — Justin LeGuernic’s start on Sunday seemed very reminiscent to last week’s start against Ole Miss.

After recording a strikeout to start Sunday’s game against North Carolina A&T, the Clemson sophomore hit the second batter, threw a wild pitch to move him to second base and then walked the next batter.

Pitching coach Jimmy Belanger had seen enough. He did not want LeGuernic to fall into the same head trap that he did in the loss to Ole Miss, when he gave up seven runs on six hits and walked two in an inning and two thirds.

After the second walk Belanger paid LeGuernic a mound visit to see if his pitcher was okay. The lefty responded by inducing a double play ball to second base to end the threat.

From their LeGuernic settled in and pitched six scoreless innings in the 14th-ranked Tigers’ 4-2 victory over North Carolina A&T in the final game of the Clemson Invitational at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

LeGuernic threw a career-best 78 pitches, allowing just one hit, which came in the fifth inning. He did walk four batters, but he also had six strikeouts and trusted his defense to make plays behind him.

He finished his afternoon by inducing another double play ball with a grounder to third base in the sixth inning.

Before Sunday, LeGuernic had not pitched more than two innings in any outing in his career and his six strikeouts were also a career-best.

The Tigers (6-1) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Jarren Purify flied out to right field with the bases loaded to score Collin Priest, who singled to left centerfield with one out.

Tryston McCladdie homered to right field on the first pitch of the third inning, extending the Clemson lead to 2-0.

With LeGuernic out of the game, the Aggies (2-3) picked up two runs in the top of the seventh inning to tie things up. With two outs, Enrique Wood doubled to right centerfield to score Andrew Tinsley and Nick DiCarlo.

The Tigers responded in the bottom of the seventh and regained the lead when Dominic Listi doubled down the leftfield line to score Josh Paino, who pinched hit for Andrew Ciufo and drew a one-out walk.

In the bottom of the eighth, Purify added his second sacrifice fly of the afternoon to pad the Clemson to two runs, 4-2.

Joe Allen, who came on with two outs in the seventh inning, closed the game to earn the victory.

Up Next

Clemson will host Winthrop at 4 p.m. on Tuesday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium