Jimmy Obertop plays hero twice as Clemson baseball walks off Louisville in ACC Tournament
Clemson baseball's Jimmy Obertop played hero in the eighth. Then he did it again in the ninth.
Obertop tied Friday’s game against Louisville in ACC Tournament pool play in the eighth when he took the first pitch he saw over the left field wall, tying a game the No. 2 seed Tigers had been trailing since the first batter.
Obertop came to the plate with the bases loaded in the ninth and worked a four-pitch walk to give Clemson the 8-7 walk off victory over the No. 7 seed Cardinals (32-24) in Charlotte.
"You just gotta win one pitch at a time," Obertop said. "Obviously when you're on offense, it's one guy to the next, just get on base, and we did."
The win was Clemson's 24th comeback victory of the year, tied for first in Division I.
"This team has an it-factor," Clemson coach Erik Bakich said. "That's their superpower – their belief. Even in a game that won't allow them to advance by winning, they still wanted to compete."
Clemson (41-14) will not advance to the semifinals of the tournament after No. 11 seed Miami clinched Pool B by beating the Tigers on Thursday.
The Tigers still had plenty to play for despite being shut out of the tournament semifinals. After Thursday’s loss to Miami, Bakich said the team hadn’t locked up a national seed and wanted to build momentum.
"Yeah, it would be nice to still be in it, playing in a double-elimination format," Bakich said. "I don't think I learned anything new about these guys, just more affirmation of their fight and their resiliency. It could've been real easy to mail it in today down 6-0 in the fourth and they didn't."
The win likely secures a top-eight seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Clemson baseball pitching flounders early, comes through late in bullpen day
Things started going downhill from the third pitch for Clemson, when Louisville's JT Benson hit a solo home run. The second inning didn’t go much better, with a leadoff bloop double. Luke Napleton took the next pitch deep off the scoreboard.
Rocco Reid, making his third start of the season, struggled from the first batter and lasted 1⅔ innings. Reid, typically a ground ball pitcher, gave up four runs, including two home runs, and only got one groundout.
But freshman Jacob McGovern shut down the Cardinals for 3⅓ innings, giving up one hit and one unearned run, keeping the game close.
"He grew up a lot today," Bakich said. "He just opened everybody's eyes that this is going to be either a potential starter or a potential big moment in the game or we need whatever, we can count on him for sure."
Clemson baseball bats get to Louisville ace Sebastian Gongora late
Louisville ace Sebastian Gongora shut down Clemson’s offense early, allowing one run and striking out six in the first four innings.
Gongora struck out the side in the first inning to set the tone. In the fifth, after Clemson’s first two runners reached base, Gongora got a double play and got a groundout to end the inning.
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But Clemson finally got to Gongora in the sixth inning, chasing him from the game after Tristan Bissetta tripled. Jacob Jarrell followed the triple up with a home run to make it a 6-4 game.
Evan Gerike is the high school sports reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at egerike@citizentimes.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanGerike.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Clemson baseball walks off Louisville in ACC Tournament 2024 pool play
