STANFORD, Calif. – Senior Cort MacDonald homered for the second time this season, extending Stanford’s streak of at least one home to 19 straight games, but the Cardinal dropped the opener of a three-game series 9-3 to Clemson on Friday night from Sunken Diamond.
The loss dropped Stanford to 13-14 on the year, including 3-7 in ACC play. Clemson improved to 20-11 overall, including 3-7 in the conference.
The Tigers used a pair of two-out hits in the top of the second to get on the board first, but Stanford drew even at 1-1 by taking advantage of a costly error charged to Clemson center fielder Bryce Clavon on a dropped fly ball in the bottom of the third.
Clemson would tack on two in the fourth and three in the sixth to push the lead to 6-1 headed to the bottom of the sixth, but MacDonald unloaded on a 2-2 offering from Clemson starter Aidan Knaak in the home-half of the inning for a two-run blast that chased the right-hander.
Knaak pitched well en route to securing his first victory of the season, working five innings and allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and one walk while striking out seven. Right-hander Hayden Simmerson took over for Knaak following the home run and pitched the final four scoreless innings while facing just one over the minimum to convert his second save of the year.
Clemson would add three more runs of insurance in the top of the eighth, including two on a two-run single from Luke Gaffney with two outs.
The Cardinal used eight pitchers in the setback, beginning with freshman left-hander Andrew Shaw. Shaw worked the first 1 2/3 innings in his second career start. Fellow freshmen Mike Erspamer and David Wiser combined to pitch 2 2/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Wiser, who contributed a 1-2-3 top of the ninth, struck out one in his collegiate debut.
Stanford will look to even the series on Saturday as the three-game set continues at 2:05 p.m.
GAME NOTES:
- Stanford has homered in 19 consecutive games (49 home runs over the span) … has dropped four straight games to Clemson after being swept in ACC play on the road last season … issued 11 free passes in the Friday loss – walking seven and hitting four
- Ethan Hott had a nine-game reached base streak snapped
- Eric Jeon went 1-for-3 with a run scored and a hit-by-pitch to extend his reached base streak to eight games … is hitting .367 (11-for-30) with nine runs scored, a double, four home runs and six RBIs in ACC play
- Cort MacDonald finished 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs … has managed multiple hits in back-to-back games and has contributed three multi-RBI games this season
- JJ Moran had a 12-game reached base streak snapped
- Rintaro Sasaki had an 18-game reached base streak snapped
- Teddy Tokheim went 2-for-4 with a run scored … has hit safely in 10 straight games and has multiple hits in six of his last seven ... owns 10 multi-hit games, has hit safely in 18 of his 21 games played, and has reached in 20 straight contests ... is hitting .381 (16-for-42) with 10 runs scored, six doubles, four home runs and 13 RBIs in ACC play
- David Wiser struck out one over one scoreless inning in his collegiate debut