Grice pitches, hits Tigers to sweep of North Carolina

Grice pitched his way to his seventh victory of the year (Photo by Merrell Mann).

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat May 20 16:40:22 GMT-05:00 2023

CLEMSON – Caden Grice did it all, or almost all, for Clemson on Saturday.

Grice hit a two-run homer and pitched 7.1 strong innings to lead No. 6 Clemson to a 3-1 victory over North Carolina at Doug Kingsmore Stadium for a series sweep.

Clemson won its 12th game in a row, improved to 39-17 overall and 20-10 in the ACC, and it might have been enough to secure a national seed for the NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels dropped to 33-21 overall and 14-14 in ACC play. The series win was Clemson’s seventh in a row in the ACC, its longest such streak during a season since winning all eight ACC series in 1994.

The Tigers have won 18 of their last 20 ACC games and 19 of their last 22 games overall. Out of the seven consecutive series win, four have come via a sweep – NC State, Louisville, Virginia Tech, and now North Carolina.

Grice earned the win and improved to 7-1 on the season after allowing just four hits, one unearned run and two walks with nine strikeouts. Rob Hughes pitched 1.2 innings to record his second save of the year. Tar Heel starter Dalton Pence (4-2) suffered the loss, as he surrendered two runs on three hits in 2.1 innings pitched.

The Tigers took an early lead on the Heels. Cooper Ingle stroked a one-out single through the left side. After Will Taylor struck out for the second out, Grice fell into a 1-2 hole but hit the fourth pitch over the wall in right for his 14th homer of the year.

UNC finally broke through against Grice in the sixth, but he limited the damage to a Tomas Frick sacrifice fly.

The Tigers added an all-important insurance run in the eighth. Billy Amick hit a one-out bloop double, and he was replaced by Lleyton Lackey. Riley Bertram continued his good work of late by providing a two-out double to score Lackey for the 3-1 lead.

Clemson is the No. 3 seed in the ACC Tournament, which will be played at Durham (N.C.) Bulls Athletic Park from Tuesday to Sunday. The Tigers’ first game is either Wednesday or Thursday on ACC Network. Clemson’s opponents, game dates and game times will be announced by the ACC this weekend.