ATLANTA — The Clemson Tigers start to the weekend did not begin the way they would have liked it to. Not only did Clemson fall to Georgia Tech 5-1 Friday, but they also slipped into the eighth spot in the ACC standings thanks to Wake Forest’s win over Duke earlier in the day.

With two games left on their ACC schedule, the Tigers desperately needed to win today and Sunday to keep their ACC Tournament hopes alive. Only the top eight teams in the standings qualify for the tournament which will be held in Jacksonville, Fla., May 21-25. Clemson is ahead of ninth place Duke by just 21 percentage points for the final spot.

The Tigers (25-24-1, 10-17-1) never really had a chance against Tech lefty David Duncan. The southpaw pitched eight solid innings in recording the win. Clemson’s D.J. Mitchell suffered the loss in going the distances.

Duncan allowed just six hits, one run, and no walks with five strikeouts in throwing 100 pitches to record the win. Mitchell, who’s record dropped to 5-4, allowed 14 hits, five runs (four earned), and no walks with nine strikeouts.

The junior right-hander also held the Yellow Jackets without a home run for the first time in their last 17 games.

Georgia Tech (35-14, 13-12) scored three runs in the second inning to grab a 3-0 lead. Charlie Blackmon and Matt Sanders had two-out base hits to highlight the inning and bring home two of the three runs.

Another two-out hit in the third inning, this time from Brad Feltes, scored Tony Plagman, who doubled down the left-field line with two outs moments before to keep the inning alive, gave the Yellow Jackets a 4-0 lead.

Clemson freshman Kyle Parker gave the Tigers their only offensive numbers for the night when he blasted a solo home run to right field in the sixth inning to make the score 4-1. Parker now has 11 home runs on the season.

Thomas Nichols’ RBI knock to right in the bottom of the eighth padded Tech’s lead and ended the night’s scoring.

Mike Freeman and Parker led Clemson with two hits each as the Tigers managed just six hits off Georgia Tech pitching. Blackmon and Plagman paced Georgia Tech’s 14-hit attack with three hits apiece.

Clemson and Georgia Tech will play game-two of the three-game series tonight at 7 o’clock in Atlanta.