It's not necessarily a shock that No. 2 Clemson swept Notre Dame on the diamond this weekend. After all, the Tigers are a national championship contender that has now won 11 straight ACC series and 15 straight overall dating back to last season. The Irish entered the weekend near the bottom of the ACC in both runs scored and earned run average. This was always the most likely outcome.
Yet that's precisely what makes it so brutal as to how the series played out. The two teams didn't look like there was a 14-win gap between them for most of the weekend. In fact, each of the three games were more than winnable for the Irish. They played well enough to earn at least one victory, maybe even two. Instead, their losing streak has been stretched out to seven games, a skid longer than any they've endured in the 2020s or 2010s.
Friday's series opener was probably the most tantalizing. The Irish jumped out to a 3-0 lead just two innings in against Clemson's Matthew Marchal, who was making just his second start of the season. Graduate student outfielder David Glancy's 10th long ball of the season jumpstarted the team and sophomore infielder Estevan Moreno tacked on with a two-out, two-run double. Senior Matt Bedford threw the ball exceptionally well, striking out five while allowing just two hits in 4.2 innings. Yet Clemson overtook the Irish in the eighth thanks to a fluke pop-up over a drawn-in infield and an opposite field homer by Will Taylor.
Once again, the Irish struck first on Saturday. They also received more quality starting pitching, as freshman Jack Radel joined Bedford in recording a career-high in innings pitched, going five strong. But the Irish bats fell silent throughout the middle innings, losing 3-2 after senior outfielder Brady Gumpf made things interesting with a pinch-hit home run in the ninth.
Yet nothing was more excruciating than Sunday's series finale. Throughout the season, Notre Dame has generally played strong defense, entering the weekend with the second-fewest errors committed in the ACC. But that soundness escaped them in the fourth inning. Sophomore Rory Fox struck out three of the first four hitters but wasn't out of the frame since the second reached on an error by junior catcher Joey Spence. Then another error on the next play, this one by graduate student Simon Baumgardt at third base, led to the first run of the game. It also led to five more runs coming across in the top of the fourth, with nine-hole hitter Jacob Jarrell delivering the big blow with a three-run blast.
Three more runs came across in the top of the fifth, with Notre Dame needing three pitchers just to get through that inning. Things were looking good for a Clemson team that had allowed more than nine runs only twice all season, especially when the Tigers tacked on singular runs in each of the next two innings.
But then the Irish reminded everyone that when clicking, they have an offense capable of scoring runs in bunches. That's exactly what happened in the final two innings. Four runs came across in the bottom of the eighth, highlighted by an RBI double from Moreno and a two-run two-bagger by graduate student outfielder Tito Flores. After a leadoff out to begin the ninth, six straight Irish hitters reached, including a three-run blast by Moreno and an RBI knock from Flores that cut the lead to one.
Improbably, with the team down to their final strike, a passed ball that took extra time for the catcher Jarrell to locate scored senior infielder Jack Penney all the way from second base. It was a dream moment for Notre Dame, but it would be overshadowed by the even bigger catastrophe that befell them in the eleventh. After an error from graduate student Connor Hincks on the pickoff at first advanced pinch-runner Devin Parks to second, sophomore David Lally Jr. walked the next batter to put two runners on. And with two outs, another error by the usually sure-handed Penney at shortstop allowed both to come in to score. Clemson tried to hand the game back with a walk and an error themselves in the bottom half, but the Irish only managed to push one across, coming up a run short.
It was another rock bottom moment in a season that has been full of frustration. The Irish can hang with the top teams in the ACC — for the second straight weekend, the Irish lost two games to a top-20 opponent by just one run. Stopping the bleeding on this gradually fading season, though, still remains out of reach.
