Clemson baseball continued its winning ways as the Tigers extended their winning streak to eight games with an 8-5 win over USC Upstate Tuesday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

Clemson’s latest victory didn’t come as easy as its previous ones. Thanks to some late-inning heroics from Jonathan French, Clemson was able to secure a win Tuesday, despite a shaky effort from its bullpen.

“A terrific win for our club tonight against USC Upstate,” coach Monte Lee said postgame. “The great thing about our club is just how resilient we are. Frenchy came up, obviously, in the bottom of the eighth and got in a good count to it and absolutely drilled it in a critical moment.”

French’s (2-for-4) first home run of the season was a big one. The sophomore designated hitter deposited a baseball into the Chapman grandstands in the bottom of the eighth inning. The go-ahead run traveled 368 feet and was 105 mph off the bat.

Dylan Brewer followed that up with an absolute moonshot to the right-field bleachers. The sophomore centerfielder added a couple of insurance runs with his first home run of the season.

Those three runs were the first Clemson scored since Caden Grice (1-for-4) added an RBI single in the home half of the second inning.

The Tigers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after two innings. Clemson quickly tacked on four first-inning runs, capped off by Bryar Hawkins’ 3-run home run. The junior infielder took a 1-1 pitch over the right-field fence, extending Clemson’s lead to 4-0.

Hawkins went 2-for-5 and added three RBIs on the day, which culminated in his third home run of the season. In addition to Hawkins, Tyler Corbitt (2-for-4), Benjamin Ingle (2-for-5) and French were the only Tigers to have multiple hits.

After maintaining a 5-0 lead, Clemson’s bullpen eventually gave way. The Tigers walked a fine line up until the eighth inning. Alex Edmonson gave up two runs, allowing the tying run to score. He gave up two runs on just one hit, but he also walked two batters in the process.

That seemed to be a common theme during Tuesday’s contest. The Tigers got themselves into trouble more often than not. Clemson’s bullpen issued four walks and allowed three runs.

That’s after Tuesday’s starting pitcher — Billy Barlow — turned in a relatively solid outing before getting into trouble in the top of the fifth inning.

Following multiple mound visits, Lee came to get Barlow with one out and two runners in scoring position. He was relieved by freshman righthander Jay Dill, who struck out the first batter he faced.

However, Dill surrendered a two-run single with both runs being charged to Tuesday’s starter. Barlow struck out four batters and allowed two runs on five hits over 4 1/3 innings pitched.

“I thought Billy Barlow again, as a true freshman, was outstanding in his start,” Lee said.

Dill was pulled in favor of Geoffrey Gilbert in the following inning.

After giving up a double, which went off the fists of USC Upstate pinch-hitter Jace Reinhart, Gilbert issued back-to-back walks. Even though he walked in a run, Gilbert eventually found his command in time, striking out a batter and stranding the bases loaded.

Jackson Lindley stranded two runners, including the would-be tying run in the top of the seventh inning. The big right-hander from nearby Anderson struck out Spartans’ shortstop Cole Caruso to escape another jam unscathed.

“I thought Jackson Lindley was huge for us, to be able to pitch out of the seventh inning the way he did,” Lee said. “Had a couple of runners on base and was able to pitch out of it.”

After all that, Ryan Ammons pitched a clean ninth inning to preserve the win for Clemson.

“That’s why he’s pitching at the end of the game,” Lee said, “because we trust him in the ninth. It takes a special guy to be able to pitch in the ninth. Look, we have other guys that could probably do it, but we feel like Ammons is the right fit to pitch in the ninth inning, which is we’ve been closing with him.”

Up next, Clemson (8-0) travels to Columbia on Friday for a 7 p.m. game against South Carolina. The game will stream on SECN+.

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