GREENVILLE, S.C. — Weston Jackson really likes playing Furman.
In seventh-ranked Clemson’s 10-5 victory on Tuesday at Fluor Field in Greenville, Jackson recorded two triples to add to the double and two home runs he had against the Paladins in a win back at Clemson on March 28.
“I don’t know what it is about those guys, but if I could play them more often, I definitely would,” Jackson said.
In two games against Furman this season, Jackson has brought in seven runs and has five extra base hits. His two triples tied a school record for one player in a game. Jackson finished the night 2-for-3 and is 5-for-7 on the season against the Paladins.
“I don’t hit very many triples, but with this ballpark being so deep if you hit one in the gap, you can run for days,” Jackson said.
As a team the Tigers (37-12) like playing Furman, too. Clemson has now won 17 straight games in the series. The Tigers are now 12-0 this year in mid-week games this season.
“Every single game is important,” Clemson head coach Monte Lee said. “We don’t talk about big games or big series. I just don’t believe in that. I believe in playing baseball the same way all the time.”
The Paladins (25-23) had won 14 of their last 16 games coming in.
It did not take Clemson too long to grab the lead on Tuesday. On the game’s first at-bat, Logan Davidson took a 3-2 offering from Furman’s Jake Crawford to right center field for a solo home run. It was Davidson’s eighth home run of the season.
Following a couple of walks by Reed Rohlman and Seth Beer, Andrew Cox and Jordan Greene had RBI singles to make the score 3-0. Cox singled through the right side and Greene through the left side.
“I think we were very confident and calm and loose coming into the ballpark today,” Lee said. “In batting practice we had one goal and that was to see how many doubles and home runs we could hit in BP.”
Davidson got his second RBI when he ripped a hit up the middle to score Grayson Byrd from second to give the Tigers a 4-1 lead. Byrd led off the inning with a base hit to left field.
After a Furman run, Clemson upped its lead to 6-1 in the top of the third inning when Jackson ripped his triple off the wall in centerfield to score Seth Beer. Beer led off the inning with a double to left centerfield.
Beer’s double tied Rohlman with the team-leading 16th of the season. Byrd dropped in a single in left centerfield later in the inning to score Jackson for a 6-1 lead.
The Tigers continued to pile it on Furman pitching with three more runs in the fifth inning as Cox led off with a double to right field, while Jackson walked and Grayson Byrd was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out.
Kyle Wilkie then drew another walk to bring one run home before Rohlman had a two-run double to bring home two more runs for a 9-2 lead.
Jackson then hit his second triple of the game to score Beer in the sixth inning for a 10-2 lead at the time.
The Tigers finished the night with 15 hits, the most they have had in a game since they had 15 against Florida State back on April 15.
Clemson will host No. 2 Louisville this Friday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in a three-game series at 6:30 p.m.