Billy Amick grand slam pushes Clemson baseball past Lipscomb in NCAA regional opener
CLEMSON – No. 1 seed Clemson baseball broke open a close game late to post a 12-5 victory against No. 4 Lipscomb on Friday afternoon in the first game of the NCAA Tournament’s Clemson Regional at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
It was the 17th consecutive victory for Clemson (44-17), which hasn’t lost since a 3-1 defeat at Boston College on April 28. The Tigers have won 21 of their last 22 games, including four victories en route to their league-record 11th ACC Tournament title.
Clemson advances to face No. 2 seed Tennessee (39-19) on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Volunteers cruised past No. 3 seed Charlotte (34-27) in Friday's second game. Lipscomb (36-26), the Atlantic Sun Conference champion, and Charlotte will play in an elimination game Saturday at 1 p.m.
m...dlwill play the loser of that game on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Caden Grice, who was named a first-team All-American earlier this week, had three RBI against Lipscomb, as did Riley Bertram, but Billy Amick was the late hero, hitting an eighth-inning grand slam that gave the Tigers a seven-run cushion.
The victory went to reliever Nick Clayton (8-0), who pitched two innings and allowed three hits and one run. He walked one and struck out four.
Starter Austin Gordon (2-4) last 4⅓ innings. He allowed six hits, four runs and one walk while striking out six.
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Gaden Grice: First-inning phenom
Grice continued to inflict damage early for the Tigers. He had a two-run home run in the opening inning in Gaden Grice: First-inning phenomTigers’ win against Lipscomb, marking the fourth time in the Tigers’ last eight games that the junior first baseman/pitcher has had a two-out, two-run homer in the first inning.
Grice drove in another run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth inning, giving him a team-leading 66 RBIs this season.
Lipscomb: Home-run happy
Lipscomb entered the Clemson Regional as one of the nation’s most prolific home run-hitting teams and the Bisons lived up to their reputation.
Caleb Ketchup and Alex Vergara homered back-to-back in the top of the fifth inning to give the Bisons a short-lived 4-3 lead. It was Ketchup’s 17th home run of the season.
Vergara added a solo shot in top of the sixth – his team-leading 23rd of the season. The Bisons now have four players with 17 or more home runs this season and their 109 team homers rank 14th nationally.
Clemson offense in high gear
Clemson’s offense has been producing runs at a rapid rate during its late-season flourish. The Tigers have scored 10 or more runs in eight of their last 13 contests and are averaging 10.1 runs per game during that span.
Part of that scoring onslaught has been Clemson’s penchant for plating two-out runs, and that continued against Lipsombe, as the Tigers scored nine of their 12 runs with two outs.
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: Clemson baseball smacks Lipscomb in NCAA regional opener with grand slam
