If Clemson was going to earn a spot in Sunday’s ACC Championship Game, it was going to have to have someone step up on the pitching mound.
As it turned out, the Tigers had two pitchers step up.
Talan Bell threw 3 2/3 innings to open the game for the 12th-ranked Tigers, while reliever Jacob McGovern came on in the sixth inning and closed it for his second save of the year, as No. 5 seed Clemson took down No. 1 seed Georgia Tech, 9-4, in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.
“It was more McGovern,” Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall said. “He has three really good pitches, and he has a really good changeup. He commands his fastball well.”
McGovern stifled the Yellow Jackets once he came into the game. He mixed and matched his fastball, changeup and breaking ball perfectly. The end result was four scoreless innings, as he allowed just two base runners (one hit) and struck out three.
The lefty’s four innings worked matched his career-best, which came against Florida in last year’s Clemson Super Regional.
“For me, it is knowing I have the defense behind me making plays,” McGovern said. “It is easy for me to go out and give it my best with the eight guys behind me knowing they are giving it everything they have. For me, it is easy.
“I just go about my business and trust that everyone else will go about theirs.”
Thanks to McGovern’s performance, the Tigers (44-15) will be in much better shape pitching wise than they thought they might be if they got past the Yellow Jackets. Clemson will play No. 3 North Carolina at noon on Sunday in the championship game.
It also helped that the Tigers added four runs over the last three innings on Saturday to give McGovern and the pitching staff some cushion to work with.
“We had three (pitchers) that were going to get hot based on the score and the situation. But it was a combination of McGovern having the 1-2-3 innings in the eighth and ninth and also us being able to separate the game a little bit,” Clemson head coach Erik Bakich said. “If it was a closer margin, and there was a situation where maybe the tying run is at the plate, then maybe we mix and match a little bit more.
“What McGovern did was fantastic and helped save our bullpen.”
McGovern did not give Georgia Tech (40-17) much to work with.
After Joe Allen gave up a lead-off walk to start the sixth, McGovern came in and retired the side. In the seventh inning, after hitting the lead off man, he struck out one of the county’s best hitters in Tech’s Drew Burress.
After giving up a one-out hit, he then retired the side by inducing a pop up to first base and then a flyball to rightfield.
In the eighth and ninth innings, McGovern sat down the Yellow Jackets in order to record his second save of the season. He retired the last eight batters he faced, including a grounder to himself to throw out Burress, which ended the game.
“We knew McGovern, he is a lot like a left-hand [Mason] Patel.” Hall said. “He has three pitches. He has a really good changeup, and you have to have a really good approach to hit him.”
And on Saturday, Tech could not.
—photo courtesy of ACC Communications