RALEIGH, N.C. — Clemson’s offensive struggles continued on Saturday as the second-ranked Tigers managed just five base hits in a 4-1 loss to No. 25 NC State at Doak Field on Saturday in Raleigh. The win gave the Wolfpack the three-game sweep.

BJ Bailey gave the Tigers (36-10, 13-8 ACC) another strong outing, going six-plus while allowing three runs on six hits. He struck out four and did not walk a batter in taking his second loss (2-2) of the season.

NC State (30-12, 15-6 ACC) starter Ryan Marohn was even better, limiting the Tigers to one run on five hits across eight innings of work. He struck out five and walked two.

Once again, the struggles for this Clemson team came at the plate as the offense mustered just five hits. The Tigers were six for their last 50 with runners in scoring position coming into Saturday’s game, and in the series finale, they were 0-for-5. That makes two straight games in which the offense was hitless with runners in scoring position and they were 1-for-21 during the three-game series.

NC State was 12-of-25 in those same situations over the first two games, and went 1-for-4 on Saturday.

Jarren Purify hit his fourth home run of the season with two outs in the top of the first, a solo shot that gave the Tigers an early 1-0 lead.

Brayden Fraasman continued to torch Clemson pitchers with a one-out single in the second, his ninth hit of the series. He would later come around to score on an infield single to tie the game at 1-1.

The score remained that way until the bottom of the sixth when Alex Sosa hit a mammoth two-run shot out to right that cleared the scoreboard, giving the Pack a 3-1 lead. It was Sosa’s ninth homer of the season.

The Pack manufactured a run off of closer Lucas Mahlsted in the eighth. It was just the fifth earned run Mahlstedt has allowed all season.

Up Next

Clemson will hit the road once again, travelling to Tallahassee for a crucial three-game ACC series beginning on Friday.