CLEMSON – Julia Knowler was due, and her time came in Clemson’s 8-0 wins over Lipscomb and Coastal Carolina Friday in Day 1 of the Clemson Classic.

Last season, as a sophomore, Knowler sent 15 home runs out of the park, along with 19 doubles. She maintained a .313 average across 61 starts and anchored Clemson’s defense at first base.

So when the veteran recorded only three hits and a sub-200 average in the first 11 games of the Tigers’ 2026 season, it came as no surprise that her underclassmen-heavy squad struggled early and fell to a 6-5 record.

But maybe, all she and the Tigers needed was a weekend in McWhorter Stadium. In the Tigers’ first game in the Clemson Classic Tournament Friday, their second home game of the year, Knowler knocked in an RBI single, her first hit in five games, to take a 4-0 lead over the Lipscomb Bisons.

“It’s huge,” head coach John Rittman said of Knowler’s success Friday. “Her and (right fielder Macey) Cintron were our three and four last year behind Alex (Brown) and Maddie Moore and they both really struggled coming into this game. They were both hitting in low 100s and just carrying the weight on their world. We know they can hit and as a coach it’s tough when you see a hitter struggling and try to make adjustments… it’s a lot easier said than done.” 

Knowler also made an adjustment to draw a walk in the first game, avoiding a full-count strikeout, but her biggest contributions did not come until after the Tigers handed Lipscomb an 8-0 loss, their third run-rule victory of the season.

Roughly 90 minutes after Knowler laid down her single, she was the third batter up against in-state foe Coastal Carolina. After freshman Mac Pavese, a freshman, singled, Knowler wasted no time continuing a newfound on-base streak.

On the first pitch, she sent a two-run homer, her first of the year, to Clemson fans sitting in lawn chairs beyond the back wall in left centerfield. As one Tiger fan hustled to collect the long-ball that traveled 274 feet, every other patron took a sigh of relief.

Julia Knowler is back.

“To see Knowler get the monkey off her back, and hit the big two-run homer, and then take a walk after that, and not pressing where she’s swinging at bad pitches and then have a base hit in her last at-bat was huge,” Rittman said.

In her last at-bat, Knowler singled once more, this time to the pitcher, who wore the base hit on the arm. The single sent Pavese to second, and both runs eventually scored, leading to a five-inning walk-off win. 

The success at home is nothing new to Knowler. The Tigers were 15-2 at home in the last two months of their season last year, and finished the year undefeated in their NCAA Regional Tournament at McWhorter Stadium. The streak has extended to six wins in a row in Clemson, with a 3-0 start at home this season.

In her career, the Tigers have won more than 70 percent of their games at McWhorter.

For the Tigers (8-5), getting two confidence-boosting-wins in a familiar environment served as a reset after an up-and-down first two weeks of the season.

“We’re very comfortable playing in McWhorter Stadium,” Rittman said. Obviously, it’s our home field and we’ve set ourselves up. We played a really tough schedule early on and we haven’t played well. Not one facet of the game have we played well. 

“We’re a much better team than we played early in the season. We’ve got to get the ship righted and I think today was a great start to doing that.”

The Tigers will have their next chance to “right the ship” Saturday, when Clemson plays its third game in the Clemson Classic against Baylor, who knocked off Lipscomb Friday afternoon.

Clemson will face off against Baylor at 3 p.m. Saturday.