LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The No. 22/21 Clemson Tigers tallied nine hits but dropped game two of the three-game series at Louisville, 6-3, on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers head into the final game of the regular season tomorrow with a 32-16 (14-9 ACC) record, while the Cardinals move to 26-22 (7-13 ACC) in 2024.
Alex Brown and Valerie Cagle led Clemson with two hits each with Brown recording an RBI while Cagle scored a run. Additional RBIs came from Alia Logoleo and Aby Vieira, while Lindsey Garcia and Arielle Oda scored one run each.
The Tigers jumped on the board in the top of the fourth after Cagle led off with a double to right center. The redshirt senior advanced to third as Garcia flew out to left field and came home to score on a sac fly from Logoleo. This was the 170th RBI of Logoleo’s career and 178th run for Cagle.
On the defensive side of that inning, Cagle picked up her fifth and sixth strikeouts of the game before Oda made a SportsCenter worthy diving catch in left to end the inning and force Louisville to leave two stranded. The Tigers held a 1-0 advantage after four.
Clemson doubled up its lead in the fifth with a second run after Oda walked and Maddie Moore singled to put runners on first and second with no outs. Brown notched her RBI with a single to center that scored Oda from second.
Louisville plated five runs in the bottom of the fifth after Clemson’s defense made three errors.
The trio of Garcia, Logoleo and Vieira strung together three hits to get one run back in the top of the sixth, including a leadoff double from Garcia and an RBI single from Vieira. In the bottom half of the inning, the Cardinals scored one more run to hold a 6-3 advantage that held through the remainder of the game.
Cagle pitched five innings with six strikeouts and only one walk allowed but dropped to 8-6 on the year in the circle. Millie Thompson replaced her in the sixth and faced five batters in her single inning of work.
Up Next
The Tigers conclude the 2024 regular season on Sunday, April 28 against Louisville. Action is slated to begin at noon on ACCNX.
