CLEMSON – Aidan Knaak had a career-high 12 strikeouts to lead fourth-ranked Clemson to a 2-1 win over Notre Dame on Friday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers, who took a 1-0 lead in the weekend series, improved to 18-1 (1-0 ACC) while the Fighting Irish fell to 10-5 (0-4 ACC).

Clemson struck quickly in the bottom of the first inning. Jarren Purify reached on a one-out HBP, moved up on a groundout, and hustled around to score on a Josh Paino infield single.

The Tigers added a run to their lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Paino worked a 10-pitch leadoff walk, moved up to second on a ground out, and around to third on a passed ball before coming in to score on a RBI single by Jacob Jarrell.

Clemson starter Knaak (3-0) earned the win with 7.0 scoreless innings of one-hit ball with one walk against 12 strikeouts. Lucas Mahlstedt pitched the final 1.2 innings to pick up his sixth save of the season. Notre Dame starter Jack Radel (1-2) suffered the loss after allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and one walk against four strikeouts in 5.0 innings.

The Tigers finished the game with five hits, by five different players, while the Irish tallied five hits in the contest.

Clemson and Notre Dame are scheduled to play game two of the three-game weekend series on Saturday with a 3:00 p.m. first pitch.