Obertop smacks three homers as Tigers take series from Pitt

Clemson took two out of three (Photo courtesy of Clemson Baseball)

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Sat Apr 20 19:50:47 GMT-04:00 2024

CLEMSON – Another strong start from Aidan Knaak and the long ball propelled Clemson to a 9-2 win over Pitt and its ninth-weekend series win in 2024.

Picking up the win, Knaak improved to 4-0 and pitched 5.2 innings, giving up no runs on four hits. He had eight strikeouts against just two walks and three 88 total pitches – 55 strikes.

In his last 27.2 innings pitched, Knaak has allowed just one run. He’s struck out 37 and given up just four walks in that span.

The Tigers hit five home runs in the game. Jimmy Obertop hit three and five total in the series, while Blake Wright and Jacob Hinderleider each added one apiece.

The Tigers improved to 32-7 overall and 13-5 in the ACC, while the Panthers fell to 16-21 and 5-16.

"A long, awesome day of baseball. Great response in game two. Tough, obviously game one, we tip the cap to their starting pitcher. Did a great job of keeping us down and started to make a comeback a little bit late, but unfortunately had dug ourselves too big of a hole in the first four innings," head coach Erik Bakich said. "So I liked the way we responded and came out and right away Jimmy hits the two-run, two-out homer in the first, and then we were either scoring or threatening to score every inning.

"And Aidan pitched very well just doing what he does, attacking the strike zone, letting the defense work and putting zeros up. But I just like the way we competed and the way we played, we hit the long ball, but we also manufactured runs. Jack Crighton hits a single, steals second and (Cam) Cannarella moves him over, and Jarren Purify hits him in with a sacc fly. So a lot of good stuff taking place out there today. Game two was obviously the better of the two games for us, but still walking out of here with a series win. It's hard to sweep in this league."

Recently, the Tigers seem to be playing from behind in every game, but in game two of the doubleheader, they jumped on the Panthers in the first inning thanks to Obertop’s two-run bomb. It was his third homer of the weekend.

Wright led off the third inning with a single to center and advanced to second on a grounder to the second baseman. Hinderleider brought him home on a rocket down the third baseline for a 3-0 Clemson lead.

His next time up, Wright led off the fifth inning with a double down the left field line and scored on Obertop’s second home run of the game that went over the stands in right field.

After Obertop’s homer, the Panthers pulled Ryan Reed in favor of Matt Porter. In the loss, Reed gave up five runs – three earned – on eight hits in four innings of work. He struck out three and walked just one batter. He threw 70 pitches – 43 strikes. Reed fell to 0-5 on the season.

One batter later, Hinderleider hit a bomb off the jumbotron in center field for a 6-0 lead after five innings.

With two outs in the sixth and runners on first and second, Knaak’s day was complete, as Nick Clayton came in from the bullpen.

Jack Crighton continued his perfect day at the plate with a hard-hit single to left. He stole second, advanced to third on a groundball and scored on a sac fly by Jarren Purify to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead after six innings.

The Panthers finally got on the board in the eighth. Rocco Reid – who came into pitch for Clayton – walked the first two batters he faced and was quickly replaced by Joe Allen, who threw three consecutive wild pitches to plate both runners to cut Clemson’s lead to 7-2.

The Tigers got both runs back with back-to-back solo shots from Wright and Obertop. It was Obertop’s third long ball of the game for a 9-2 lead.

Clemson travels to Athens to take on No. 23 Georgia Tuesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.