After forcing the Sunday rubber match with Saturday’s 5-1 victory, Clemson earned its second ACC series win of the season over Notre Dame by a score of 6-4 Sunday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, S.C.

After back-to-back scoring between the two ball clubs, the Tigers sealed the deal in the seventh thanks to two back-to-back RBI doubles hit off the bats of infielders Riley Bertram and Billy Amick for the eventual two-run victory over the Fighting Irish.

With the win, Clemson improves to 22-16 overall and 6-9 in ACC play while Notre Dame drops to 18-15 overall and 8-10 in ACC play.

Clemson righthander Nick Clayton earned the win, his third of the season, while Notre Dame righthander Radek Birkholz downed the loss for the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame was the first to strike in the first inning of play. With a runner on second and one out, right fielder Brooks Coetzee III hit an RBI double to left center, scoring infielder Zack Prajzner from second to give the Fighting Irish the 1-0 lead. Despite falling behind early, Clemson wasted no time getting on the scoreboard in the bottom half of the inning. With runners on the corners and no outs, Will Taylor found the hole down the left field line for a single to score Cam Cannarella from third and tie things up 1-1 through one.

Into the second, Notre Dame scored its second run of the day off a Clemson fielding error at third base to retake the lead 2-1. The Tigers answered yet again, this time in the form of an RBI double hit off the bat of Tristan Bissetta and Cannarella’s ground out that moved the sticks and scored Bertram from third for Clemson’s first lead of the day by a score of 3-2.

After two scoreless innings for both ball clubs, the Fighting Irish tied the game up for the second time of the day. With the bases loaded and one out, Casey Kmet hit a sac-bunt RBI back to the pitcher to score Putz and even the score 3-3. Clemson struck once again in the bottom half of the inning thanks to Caden Grice’s sac-fly RBI to left that scored Ingle for the second unearned run of the day. The Tigers led 4-3 after five.

Following a scoreless sixth inning, Notre Dame cashed in on a Tigers pitching error in the seventh, scoring the Fighting Irish’s fourth run of the day off a wild pitch to tie the game for a third time by a score of 4-4. It didn’t take long for Clemson to take its first two-run lead of the day. The Tigers scored two more runs in the bottom of the seventh thanks to two back-to-back RBI doubles hit by Amick and Bertram for an eventual final score of 6-4.

Amick led Clemson offensively on the day going 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs off three hits, two doubles and one RBI.

“We have taken so many punches this year and traded blows so many times that it’s callused our mind,” Bakich said. “It’s no big deal now to have lead changes back and forth and to play from the deficit and to play in tight games… it’s like so what?

“This is what we do every game it feels like, so there is no deficit that we feel like we can’t come from behind. With all the leads, because we’ve blown leads already this season, we’ve still got an urgency to keep the pedal down, so I like that for this team, I like that that’s part of our journey. I think it will only help us in the second half of ACC play.”

Next up, Clemson welcomes the Georgia for its annual Military Appreciation Day on Tuesday, April 18, at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, SC for their second and final matchup of the season against the Bulldogs. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on ACCNX.

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