When his team needed him most, Aidan Knaak stepped up and delivered a magical performance.

The right-handed sophomore held Pitt hitless in a 6-1 win, while tying a career-high with 7.1 innings pitched. He also tied another career mark with 12 strikeouts in what was one of the more dominating performances seen from a Clemson starting pitcher in quite some time.

To cap it off, relievers Joe Allen and Lucas Mahlstedt held the Panthers hitless over the final 1.2 innings, giving the Tigers their first no-hitter since 2009, when five pitchers combined to no-hit USC-Upstate in a 14-0 win. It was also the first no-hitter in ACC play in almost 50 years.

“Just what the doctor ordered,” head coach Erik Bakich said. “Elite pitching covers up a lot of things, and we had not just elite pitching, we had an outlier. A unicorn. An awesome performance and just what this team needed at this time. It was special, magical. Just the 15th no-hitter in school history. First since 2009 and the first ACC no-hitter since 1976. Huge tip of the cap to Aidan Knaak, Joe Allen and Lucas Mahlstedt.

After the game, Knaak was his typical humble self, heaping praise on both Allen and Mahlstedt, as well as catcher Jacob Jarrell, who finished the night 4-for-5 with a big solo home run.

Allen was able to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth by inducing a double play ball, and Mahlstest recorded the final out after the Panthers had put runners at first and second in the bottom of the ninth.

“Outstanding performance from the whole pitching staff,” Knaak said. ” Joe came in when there was some adversity shown and picked me up. Joe faced some adversity, and Subby picked him up. Altogether, a great pitching staff. Not to mention Jacob Jarrell behind the dish, making it all happen.”

As big as the no-hitter was, it came at a time when Clemson needed it most. The Tigers came into the series having lost nine of their past 12 games. Not only does this team need a series win, it likely needs a sweep to get back in the conversation of hosting a regional.

However, while there are major postseason implications on the line this weekend, the Tigers know this is just one win, and that there is still more work to be done.

“Great way to set the tone and a great way to be 1-0 to start the series,” Bakich said. “Lot of work left to be done in this series, but for this whole team to be part of a historic night is very special and just certainly very proud of Aidan Knaak and the entire pitching staff. Awesome night. It was his night. Just a great thing to celebrate.