Two top-25 ranked teams went to battle in the opener of a three-game ACC series on Friday evening, and the game lived up to the expectations as both No. 3 Clemson and No. 19 Georgia Tech went blow for blow before the visiting Tigers had just a little more at the end to pull out a hard-fought 9-7 victory in front of a big crowd at Russ Chandler Stadium.

Clemson (25-4, 6-2 ACC) scored two runs in the eighth and one in the ninth which proved to be the difference. Georgia Tech (21-5, 7-3 ACC) battled for a run in the bottom half of the final inning, but a long fly ball to left field from Vahn Lackey was caught just in front of the fence as the Jackets' catcher narrowly missed a game-tying homer.

"I'm proud of the way we hung in there and almost tied the game there in the ninth," said Georgia Tech coach Danny Hall, who was honored prior to Friday's game for recently moving into the top 10 in all time wins by a college head coach. "I think we're very competitive. I think we're a good team. We just made too many mistakes tonight, but I was proud of the way our guys battled. We were very competitive."

Clemson scored a pair of runs in the top of the first on an RBI single by Luke Gaffney followed by Cam Cannarella coming home to score on an error, but the Jackets quickly got one back in the bottom half of the inning as Kyle Lodise blasted a solo homer to left center to make it 2-1.

Clemson added to its lead in the fourth with a pair of two-out runs to make it 4-1. The first came on a solo homer by Jacob Jarrell, and that was followed a few batters later with an RBI single by Dominic Listi.

Tech got one run back in the following half inning as Carson Kerce doubled down the left-field line to bring home a run. The Jackets stranded runners at second and third to end the inning, however, as Clemson took its 4-2 lead to the fifth.

The Tigers had the answer in the top of the fifth with Josh Paino driving home another run on an RBI groundout to make it 5-2.

Georgia Tech rallied for three in the bottom of the fifth to tie it at 5-5 with two runs coming home on a double by Caleb Daniel that narrowly landed in front of the left-center field wall and the third on a sac fly from Alex Hernandez as Daniel hustled around from second on a deep fly ball to right.

The Tigers immediately retook the lead in the top of the sixth on a solo homer by Collin Priest to lead off the inning and make it 6-5, but the see-saw game continued with Tech tying it up in the bottom half on a sac fly from Kerce to make it 6-6.

Clemson took a two-run lead thanks to a squeeze bunt by Andrew Ciufo in the eighth and then added another run on a sac fly by Listi a few batters later to make it 8-6. The Tigers got a two-out solo homer from Jarrell in the ninth to push the lead to 9-6.

Georgia Tech threatened with a couple baserunners in the eighth, but a ball solidly hit by Lodise with two outs was tracked down in the left-center gap by Clemson's Cam Cannarella to end the inning.

The Jackets' final run came on a two-out, RBI single Tyler Neises in the ninth, but the drive to left field by Lackey came up just short of the wall for a fly-out for the third out to seal the game.

Mason Patel took the loss for Georgia Tech, his first of the season to drop to 7-1 on the year. He pitched the final four frames after starter Tate McKee went the first five. Patel allowed four runs on four hits with four strikeouts and two walks while McKee allowed five runs (three earn) on seven hits with six strikeouts and one walk.

Lucas Mahlstedt improved to 2-0 for Clemson as he earned the win thanks to pitching the final 3 1/3 innings and allowing one run on three hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

Aidan Knaak started for the Tigers and pitched five innings while allowing five runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and one walk. Drew Titsworth went 2/3 of an inning in relief and gave up one unearned run on one hit with one walk.

Jarrell led the Tigers' bats with his pair of solo homers as part of a 3-for-5 night. Priest also had a pair of hits, including his solo homer, and Cannarella was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. Listi finished with a pair of RBIs, and Gaffney, Paino and Ciufo all drove in one apiece.

Five different players finished with two hits for Georgia Tech led by Daniel's 2-for-5 night with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored and Lodise's 2-for-5 effort with his homer, one RBI and two runs scored. Kerce also had two hits and two RBIs, Drew Burress added two hits and two runs scored and Neises contributed two hits and an RBI.

Tech and Clemson will be right back at it in Game 2 of the series on Saturday at 4 p.m. before closing out the three-game set on Sunday at 1 p.m.

"Our crowd was outstanding tonight, and we need them here tomorrow," said Hall. "If we can play better tomorrow and win that game, then we have the chance then on Sunday to win a series. I want to just tip my cap to our crowd. It was outstanding."

Hall talked more after the game as well about the decision that was made public on Thursday about him stepping away following the season after 32 seasons at the helm at Tech. More to come in the form of a longer feature story soon.