CLEMSON – The 25th-ranked Clemson Tigers had its six-game winning streak snapped when Georgia Southern stormed back with a five-run seventh inning to hand the Tigers an 8-7 loss Friday, their first defeat in the Tiger Invitational Tournament since 2024.

Despite hitting four home runs, including right fielder Macey Cintron’s first long ball of the year, the pitching staff allowed five hits in one frame, allowing the Eagles to rob the Tigers of their two-hundred-and-fiftieth program win at McWhorter Stadium.

After outscoring opponents 46-2 in the last six games, the Tigers’ pitching staff was finally tamed by clutch hits from Georgia Southern.

“Game two we were cruising until the seventh inning we were one strike away from winning the gameand then the wheels kind of fell off,” head coach John Rittman said postgame. “We made a couple of errors, but credit Georgia Southern for their tenacity at the plate, the way they approached the game with a never say die attitude.”

Georgia Southern, just like Wofford in the previous game, got it going first. The leadoff hitter for the Eagles homered on the first pitch she saw from pitcher Keira Crosby, her first long ball of the season. Crosby allowed no more hits through the first frame.

With one out in the bottom of the first, freshman Mac Pavese answered back with a home run of her own to even the score 1-1. Pavese’s long ball was the third of her young career. 

One batter later, Marian Collins, the third hitter in the order, took it one step further– hitting her fifth homer of the season to take a 2-1 lead. Collins kept her streak going from a two-run shot against Georgia on Wednesday and a multi-hit game earlier on Friday against the Terriers. 

Designated player Julia Knowler followed the second blast with a one-out walk and Macey Cintron, following up on a triple against Wofford, reached on a fielder’s choice. She was driven home for a 3-1 lead on a Kiley Channell single.

Center fielder Jamison Brockenbrough added to the Tigers’ lead with a solo shot to right field in the second, and Collins added to the lead after the Eagles walked in a run after Pavese, Collins, and designated player Julia Knowler drew walks. 

Georgia Southern punched back with a two-run long ball in the third to cut the lead 5-3.

Cintron silenced Georgia Southern’s dugout and fan section succinctly, launching her first home run of the season in the fourth, a bomb to right center that drove home Knowler for two RBIs.

“Macey struggled this season early on and she’s got the power, she’s got the ability,” Rittman said. “Sometimes you struggle in this game and it’s how you deal with those struggles and I think she’s been phenomenal. She’s still a leader for us, and she’s handled herself really well and she’s starting to come out of it a little bit with her home run today. That was a big, big shot for her.”

Three innings later, the Eagles loaded the bases on a two-out rally, and Delanie Thames doubled on a full count, scoring three to cut the lead 7-6. Another single tied the game 7-7 with pitcher Sierra Maness in the circle for relief.

The Eagles took an 8-7 lead on their fifth hit of the inning.

The Tigers put runners on second and third with a Brockbrough single, a Sarah Breaux walk, and a Pavese fly out, but a fly out from Collins ended the game 8-7 in the Eagles’ favor.

Crosby finished up her day in the circle after 3.0 innings, allowing three earned runs off of two hits and one walk. She struck out three, tied for a career-high, before she was replaced by lefty Olivia Duncan in the fourth.

Duncan allowed three runs off of four hits with three Ks. Manness, who got the win over No. 11 ranked Georgia Wednesday, gave up three hits and two earned runs before striking out a batter to end a lengthy half-inning in the seventh.

“I thought Crosby started gave us some quality innings,” Rittman said. Olivia Duncan came in and gave us a good couple innings and just couldn’t get that last out and we felt like you know let’s go to Sierra which was the right move. Credit Georgia Southern they came out and strung some hits together and we made a couple of key costly mistakes in that inning that kept the door open and they took advantage of it.”

Brockenbrough finished with three hits, and Pavese finished with two. The pair combined for two RBI. Cintron finished 1-for-2 with two RBIs on her homer– which traveled 220 feet at 70 miles-per-hour.

Home Run Party

The Tigers and Eagles hit a combined six home runs, with four coming from the Tigers’ lineup. Clemson recorded 10 hits to Georgia Southern’s nine. No Clemson players struck out.

Up Next

Clemson has its next chance to start a new winning streak Saturday, when the Tigers will host No. 19 Mississippi State (16-1) at McWhorter Stadium. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. in Clemson’s third game in the Tiger Invitational.

“We’ve bounced back all season long,” Rittman said, one game shy of his 1000th career win. “It’s still early in the season, but this team will respond. We play a really good Mississippi State team tomorrow, so we’ll have to bring our A-game, but I have no doubt we’ll come out and compete really well tomorrow.”