Billy Amick grand slam in Clemson baseball regional adds to his reserve-to-All-American season
CLEMSON – It took Billy Amick 15 games to earn his first start for Clemson baseball.
Coach Erik Bakich inserted Amick into the lineup after he hit a walk-off grand slam in a 9-8 victory against Georgia State on March 10 and he’s been making up for lost time ever since.
His latest heroics came Friday when his ninth-inning grand slam punctuated Clemson’s 12-5 victory against Lipscomb in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament’s Clemson Regional at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers have won 17 in a row.
Clemson (44-17), the regional host and No. 1 seed, will face Tennessee (39-19) at 6 p.m. on Saturday. The second-seeded Volunteers rolled past Charlotte (34-27) 8-1 in Friday's second game. Lipscomb (36-25) and Charlotte will battle in an elimination game at 1 p.m.
Amick said he drew adrenaline from the crowd of 5,322.
“The atmosphere today was awesome, especially in the ninth inning there,” Amick said. “It was really fun.”
Amick’s second grand slam of the season provided some breathing room against a fourth-seeded team that proved difficult to subdue.
“Lipscomb is an outstanding team that we were fortunate to beat today,” said Bakich. “It was much closer than the final score ended up being.”
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Amick has been a revelation for Bakich’s first Clemson team, going from third-team reserve to earning first-team All-America honors earlier this week after hitting .416 with 13 home runs, a team-high 17 doubles as well as posting a team-best .789 slugging percentage.
“It’s just a message to all the guys that start the year as a role player not to give up,” Bakich said. “Billy Amick just kept working at it and finally his opportunity came. It was a total coincidence how he got in there – a guy got hit by a pitch, another guy came out, and then he goes in and gets a couple of hits.
"Then before you know it he’s hitting a walk-off grand slam against Georgia State and he inserts himself into the lineup. Now it’s a lineup that we can’t write without him in the five hole.”
Amick denied after Friday’s game that he was swinging for a grand slam in the ninth inning, which drew a skeptical look from Bakich.
“I wasn’t swinging for a grand slam, but it was there,” Amick said. “And we certainly hit mistakes.”
Scott Keepfer covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at skeepfer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @ScottKeepfer
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Billy Amick grand slam highlights Clemson baseball regional win
