CLEMSON — Duke rallied from an early five-run deficit, scoring 10 unearned runs in the seventh, to come back and beat No. 9 Clemson 15-10 on a dreary Saturday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, evening up the crucial ACC series at one game apiece.

The Tigers (38-14, 15-11 ACC) have now dropped four of their last five games and nine of the past 12.

The Blue Devils (34-16, 15-11) totaled 13 hits, hit four solo homers, and scored runs in every inning but two. Six Clemson pitchers also combined to walk 11 hitters and hit three more, totaling 14 free passes on the day.

AJ Gracia’s hot weekend continued, as he went 2-for-5 for Duke, with two long balls and two RBI. He has now hit three homers in the weekend series. Ben Rounds finished 2-for-4 with a solo homer and three runs driven in.

Luke Gaffney went 3-for-6 for the Tigers, driving in two runs, while Josh Paino went 1-for-3 with a three-run homer. Cam Cannarella also added a couple of hits and drove in a run.

Duke took a quick 1-0 lead on a solo homer by AJ Gracia in the top of the first, his 10th long ball of the season.

The Tigers would quickly respond, sending 11 hitters to the plate in the bottom half of the inning. Cannarella drew a walk to lead things off, followed by a bloop single from Jack Crighton. After Collin Priest struck out, Paino launched a 427-foot shot out to left-center, giving Clemson a 3-1 lead. It was his 10th home run of the season, tying him for second on the team.

Dominic Listi then singled and quickly stole second. Jacob Jarrell followed that with a single, moving Listi to third. Jarrell would advance to second on the throw. Jarren Purify then reached on a fielding error, allowing Listi to come across. Purify then stole second, his 23rd stolen base this season, once again putting runners at second and third. Gaffney grounded out to third, scoring another run, before Andrew Ciufo’s RBI single made it 6-1.

Macon Winslow hit his sixth homer of the season, a solo shot out to left, in the top of the second, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 6-2.

Gracia would go deep again in the third, another solo shot, making it 6-3. It was Gracia’s second homer of the game and third of the weekend. Ben Rounds added an RBI single later in the inning to cut the lead to two at 6-4.

Talan Bell would come on in relief to start the fourth and the first three Blue Devil hitters would reach, loading the bases. The freshman would then strike out the next three batters to strand all three runners.

Ben Rounds got in on the solo homer bonanza in the top of the fifth, hitting his eighth of the season out to center, cutting the Tigers’ lead to one at 6-5.

After continuing to chip away, Duke finally regained the lead in the top of the seventh. The Blue Devils had runners at first and second with one out, and Jacob McGovern induced a weak ground ball to second. Instead of a sure-fire double play, the ball rolled through Purify’s legs, allowing the runner from third to score, tying the ballgame. After McGovern struck out Gracia looking, he hit a batter, loading the bases. Jake Hyde then ripped a two-run single into right, putting Duke on top 8-6.

TP Wenworth would relieve McGovern and immediately walk in a run before allowing a two-out, two-run single that pushed the Blue Devils lead out to 11-6. Two more two-run singles would make it 15-6. By the time the inning was over, Duke had scored 10 unearned runs.

Clemson would add some unearned runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Crighton drew a bases-loaded walk to force in one run and then Priest followed that up with a swinging bunt. Two throwing errors on the play allowed two runs to score, pulling the Tigers to with in six at 15-9.

Cannarella added an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth, making it 15-10.

Two-Out Hitting

Once again, the Tigers had trouble coming up with the big two-out hit. Clemson was just 2-of-10 in this one. On the other side of that, the Blue Devils were an impressive 9-of-15, with most of those coming in that disastrous seventh inning. Duke finished with 11 two-out RBI.

Too Many Ks

Clemson hitters struck out 15 times. Purify and Ciufo each had three strikeouts, while four others had two.

Up Next

The rubber match between these two teams is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday. The game will be streamed on ACCNX.