Duke (22-16, 9-10) scored two runs with two outs in the ninth inning and held on for a 9-8 victory over Clemson (25-13, 11-8) in the opener of an ACC series at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
The Tigers, who have lost five straight games overall as well as their last five in ACC play, got a leadoff homer from Sam Hall in the first inning and later pushed to margin to 3-0.
Duke scored four runs in the fourth, but the Tigers regained the lead by scoring three in the bottom of the inning - the final two coming on Hall's second homer of the game.
After Duke went ahead 7-6 in the top of the seventh, Clemson used a steal of home by Hall to tie the score and an RBI groundout by Kyle Wilkie to go up 8-7.
Kyle Gallagher drew a one-out single in the Blue Devils ninth and went to second on a groundout. Ethan Murray singled to tie the score and Michael Rothenberg doubled to put Duke ahead.
Clemson, which lost for the time team this season when it scored five or more runs in a game, went 1-2-3 in the ninth. The Tigers had been 21-0 when scoring five or more in a game.
Hall had three of Clemson's seven hits.
With the loss, Clemson fell three games behind first-place Louisville in the Atlantic Division standings. Louisville was losing to Miami, 10-3, when it's Friday game was suspended in the sixth inning because of weather. N.C. State is one game ahead of the Tigers in second place. The Wolfpack were rained out.
Clemson will try to end its longest losing streak since May 2013 in Game 2 of the series at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Elsewhere:
* Most of Friday's scheduled games involving S.C. teams were washed out. A few games were played, though.
* Freshman Josh Bookbinder pitched a three-hit shutout as Newberry (37-12, 22-3) won Game 2 of a doubleheader at Lincoln Memorial (32-14, 18-5) to win the South Atlantic Conference's regular-season championship and top seed for the conference tournament. LMU forestalled elimination with a 5-2 win in Game 1.
* In Johnson City, Wofford (24-17, 7-4) evened its series with East Tennessee State (27-11, 7-4) and moved back into a second-place tie with the Buccaneers in the Southern Conference standings with a 10-4 victory. The Terriers scored two runs in the first inning and added four in the second to build a comfortable early lead. Matty Brown had four hits for Wofford, which was outhit 16-15.
* North Greenville (34-9, 20-5) also scored early and often in an 11-3 win over Chowan (13-22-1, 8-15) to open a Conference Carolinas series in Tigerville. Utah Jones and Josh Senter homered for the Crusaders. NGU starter Tucker Burgess struck out eight in 5 1/3 innings.
* David Stiehl shut out College of Charleston (24-14, 7-3) on three singles as Northeastern (18-19, 8-5) won the opener of their Colonial Athletic Association series, 7-0. The Huskies were held to three runs over the first seven innings by Cougars starter Griffin McLarty, but added four runs against the bullpen in the eighth. The Cougars, in second place in the CAA, fell two games behind first-plasce Elon (21-16, 10-2), which was idle Friday.
* Philip Watcher had three hits and drove in five runs as USC Aiken (24-17, 14-9) cruised past Lander (16-30, 11-15), 12-4, to clinch a Peach Belt Conference series win. The Pacers, in third place in the league, remained 2 1/2 games behind first-place Flagler (27-17, 18-8), which beat UNC Pembroke, 6-5, in 10 innings. USCA moved to 1 1/2 games behind North Georgia, which is playing a nonconference series this weekend. Carson Jones belted his school-record 31st career homer for Lander.
For more, see Friday's complete scorelist, including a whole passel of rainouts
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