Tigers Fall to UVa in ACC Tournament

by Dan Scott - Correspondent - Wed May 25 19:51:17 GMT-04:00 2005

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Clemson's late-season rush of momentum ran into a stone wall named Kamrath Wednesday afternoon.

Jeff Kamrath, Virginia's starting pitcher, allowed just one run in 6 1/3 innings, leading the Cavaliers to an 8-1 victory over Clemson in the first round of the ACC Tournament. The game was played before a sparse crowd at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville (Fla.).

The Tigers, winners of nine straight to close the regular season, missed on a pair of scoring opportunities against Kamrath early in the game. Once he got rolling, Kamrath was in control. Mixing a variety of off-speed pitches with a well-spotted fastball, the senior righthander allowed eight hits, walked only one and struck out six.

He gave way in the seventh to Sean Doolittle who, along with Josh Myers, closed the door on Clemson the rest of the way.

Clemson (37-20) had five of the eight hits inside the first three innings, but could manage just one run vs. Kamrath. Later, as the game unraveled in the late innings, those early failures would loom large.

"It's a funny game," said Clemson head coach Jack Leggett. "Today we had 10 hits and only got one run. The other day we had nine hits and scored eight runs. It just didn't piece together for us, and we didn't look very sharp in the latter stages of the game.

"Up until that time we were fine, but we just couldn't get the big hit when we needed it."

Case in point, the very first inning.

Infield singles by leadoff man Herman Demmink and No. 2 hitter Brad Chalk, coupled with a sacrifice bunt by Taylor Harbin, put runners at second and third with one out and Clemson's four and five hitters at the plate. But those batters, Tyler Colvin and Kris Harvey, each struck out against Kamrath.

Goodbye threat. Hello bad omen.

"Some things didn't go our way. Other times we didn't execute," said Chalk.

In the third, after giving Virginia (39-17) a 1-0 lead on an unearned run, the Tigers rallied to tie the score.

Adrian Casanova led off with a double to the right field corner and, after a strike out by Demmink, moved to third on a short single to left by Chalk. Harbin followed with a hit to tie the game at 1-1, moving Chalk to third in the process.

But again, with a chance to do even further damage against Kamrath (9-4), the Tigers instead came up short. This time Colvin popped out foul to short right field, and Harvey ended the inning with a foul pop to the Virginia catcher.

"They put a couple of guys in scoring position - that's just a credit to them," Kamrath said of Clemson. "Scott Headd, our catcher, came out and talked to me and calmed me down...You give the ball to your defense and let them make plays...Our defense did a great job."

Meanwhile, lost in the shuffle was another fine performance from Clemson righty Stephen Faris.

Faris (6-4) pitched one out deep into the eighth inning, allowed three runs (two earned), struck out four and didn't walk a batter. The last batter he faced, Brandon Guyer, he hit with a pitch with one out and no one on in the top of the eighth.

At that point Leggett chose to bring in senior righthander Jeff Hahn which, based on Hahn's performance over the season, seemed to be a solid move. But Hahn faced only three batters, walking one and giving up a pair of hits. He ultimately was charged with three earned runs after Virginia second baseman Kyle Werman blew the game open with a two-run single on the first pitch he saw from lefty reliever Daniel Moskos.

By the time the eighth inning had settled, Virginia led 7-1. They added an unearned run in the ninth.

"Our kids have a lot of confidence in themselves," Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor said. "Our kids played very well the last month and a half of the season, and we came in here to win this thing. It started today."

Clemson falls into the loser's bracket, where it will face Miami Thursday at 10 a.m. Virginia will meet N.C. State at 4 p.m.

Virginia 8 (39-17)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

------------------------------------------------------

Tim Henry cf............. 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0

Matt Street rf........... 5 0 2 2 0 1 2 0 1

Ryan Zimmerman 3b........ 4 1 1 0 0 0 3 1 2

Sean Doolittle 1b/p...... 5 0 1 0 0 1 6 0 2

Brandon Guyer dh/lf...... 3 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0

Scott Headd c............ 3 1 1 1 2 0 10 0 0

Tom Hagan lf/1b.......... 5 1 3 1 0 0 3 0 0

Josh Myers p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Mike Campagna ss......... 5 1 1 1 0 3 1 1 4

Kyle Werman 2b........... 4 2 2 2 0 0 1 3 0

Jeff Kamrath p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Totals................... 37 8 12 7 2 6 27 6 9

Clemson 1 (37-20)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

------------------------------------------------------

Herman Demmink 3b........ 5 0 1 0 0 2 0 3 1

Brad Chalk cf............ 4 0 2 0 0 1 2 0 1

Taylor Harbin 2b......... 3 0 1 1 0 0 1 5 0

Tyler Colvin lf.......... 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0

Kris Harvey dh........... 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 4

Travis Storrer rf........ 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1

Andy D'Alessio 1b........ 4 0 1 0 0 1 10 2 1

Stan Widmann ss.......... 3 0 2 0 1 1 3 3 0

Adrian Casanova c........ 3 1 1 0 0 1 6 1 1

Jesse Ferguson ph....... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0

Stephen Faris p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0

Jeff Hahn p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Daniel Moskos p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Stephen Clyne p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Totals................... 35 1 10 1 1 9 27 17 9

Score by Innings R H E

-------------------------------------------

Virginia............ 001 001 051 - 8 12 0

Clemson............. 001 000 000 - 1 10 3

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E - HARBIN(7); D'ALESSIO(5); WIDMANN(19). DP - Virginia 1;

Clemson 1. LOB - Virginia 9; Clemson 9. 2B - HAGAN(4);

CASANOVA(5). HBP - ZIMMERMAN; GUYER 2. SH - HENRY 2(11);

HARBIN(7). SB - HENRY(9); ZIMMERMAN(16); GUYER(10);

WIDMANN(5). CS - HAGAN(2); WERMAN(5).

Virginia IP H R ER BB SO AB BF

-----------------------------------------------

Jeff Kamrath........ 6.1 8 1 1 1 6 25 27

Sean Doolittle...... 2.0 1 0 0 0 2 7 7

Josh Myers.......... 0.2 1 0 0 0 1 3 3

Clemson IP H R ER BB SO AB BF

-----------------------------------------------

Stephen Faris....... 7.1 8 3 2 0 4 29 32

Jeff Hahn........... 0.0 2 3 3 1 0 2 3

Daniel Moskos....... 1.0 2 2 1 1 1 5 8

Stephen Clyne....... 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 1 1

Win - KAMRATH (9-4). Loss - FARIS (6-4). Save - None.

WP - HAHN(6). HBP - by FARIS (ZIMMERMAN);

by FARIS (GUYER); by MOSKOS (GUYER).

Umpires - HP: Arthur Schmidt 1B: Bryant Woodall 2B: Al Davis

3B: A.J. Lostaglio Start: 1:43 Time: 3:07 Attendance:

HAHN faced 3 batters in the 8th.

Dan Scott covers Clemson University for the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Seneca Daily Journal/Clemson Messenger and TigerNet. He also hosts SportsTalk from 9 a.m.-Noon, Monday-Friday, on WCCP-Fm, 104.9. Click here for Dan Scott's SportsTalk discussion board.