CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There will be no magical run for Clemson in this year’s ACC Tournament as No. 10 seed Notre Dame hit three home runs and eliminated the No. 15 seed Tigers with a 5-4 win in the first round on Tuesday at Truist Field in Charlotte. Clemson ends the 2026 campaign having dropped six of their final eight games.
With the loss, the Tigers (31-26) are assured to miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time during Erik Bakich’s four-year tenure. After going 10-20 during ACC play in the regular season, Clemson needed to win the conference championship this week and secure the league’s automatic bid. This is now the third time in six years the team will not make a regional, seeing as the program failed to make the field in either of Monte Lee’s final two seasons at the helm.
Notre Dame starter Jake Radel continued to have Clemson’s number. After pitching a complete game shutout against the Tigers back in March, Radel went 6.1 in this one, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out eight in picking up the win (8-3).
Michael Sharman, who took the loss (6-2), tied a career-high with eight strikeouts, but also allowed three runs on six hits in just four innings of work. Ariston Veasey relieved the veteran left-hander to start the fifth, allowing one run one one hit in two innings of work. He struck out four and walked one. Hayden Simmerson went the final two, allowing a run on one hit. He struck out three and walked one.
While Jacob Jarrell, Tyler Lichtenberger and Bryce Clavon each hit home runs, all three were of the solo variety. The Tigers managed just seven hits in the loss, finishing 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
It did not take the Irish (31-21) long to get on the board as leadoff hitter Drew Berkland took Sharman’s second pitch out to right, quickly putting Notre Dame on top 1-0. It was his 16th homer of the season.
Lichtenberger’s solo shot to start the top of the third, just his second of the season, tied things up. After Bryce Clavon struck out, Jackson Moore doubled into the right-field corner. Jarren Purify then went down swinging, followed by Tryston McCladdie’s RBI triple that put the Tigers out in front 2-1.
Bino Watters 421-foot solo homer on an 0-2 pitch in the bottom half of the frame, his 10th of the season, tied the score right back up. After Sharman got a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Noah Coy singled, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. A double by Jayce Lee would drive him in, putting Notre Dame right back on top 3-2.
Lee hit Notre Dame’s third home run of the game with one out in the bottom of the sixth, taking 3-1 pitch from Veasey 400-feet out to right and putting the Irish up 4-2. It was his 13th long ball of the season.
Clavon’s fifth homer of the season with two outs in the seventh pulled the Tigers back to within one at 4-3.
The Irish got that run back in the bottom of the eighth on a sac fly by Dylan Passo, making it 5-3.
Jarrell’s solo shot came with two outs in the top of the ninth, his team leading 18th of the season, and cut the deficit to 5-4. Lichtenberger followed with a single into right and served as the tying run, but he was stranded there after Clavon struck out to end it.
No Cardiac Cats In 2026
Bakich’s teams were known for some crazy comebacks over his first three seasons at Clemson. However, this team just didn’t have that trait. The Tigers will finish the 2026 campaign just 3-31 when trailing after six innings, 2-17 when trailing after seven and a dismal 0-20 when trailing after eight.
