Davies, Jackets end Clemson's ACC tourney run

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GREENSBORO, N.C. – Too much Jake Davies and not enough offense ended Clemson’s ACC Baseball Championship chances.

Davies, the Georgia Tech left-hander, homered and drove in two runs and gave up just one run and two hits in 6 2/3 innings pitched in leading the Jackets to a 5-1 win over Clemson at New Bridge Bank Park Saturday.

With the win, Georgia Tech (34-24) earned a berth in Sunday’s ACC tourney finale, while Clemson (33-25) heads home to wait to ponder the possibilities of an NCAA Tournament selection.

“Bottom line is they just played a better game than we did,” Clemson head coach Jack LeggettJack Leggett
Baseball Head Coach
View Full Profile said. “Right from the very beginning they came out swinging the bats and we got down. We just couldn’t get anything going offensively. When he had guys on base, we came up dry. We just have to collect ourselves, and hopefully there is more baseball to play.”

Davies entered the game known more for his hitting than his pitching – he was 0-3 with a 6.17 ERA in 12 appearances and hadn’t won a game since March of 2010 – but delivered on both ends in helping to send the Tigers home. He launched a long home run to right in the top of the first – his 13th of the season – to stake Tech to a quick 2-0 lead off of Clemson starter Kevin PohleKevin Pohle
So. RH Pitcher
#21 6-3, 180
St. Louis, MO
View Full Profile .

Steve WilkersonSteve Wilkerson
So. 2nd Base
#17 6-1, 185
Roswell, GA
View Full Profile greeted Davies rudely leading off the bottom of the first, lining a 2-1 pitch over the wall in left for his first long ball of the season and making it 2-1.

Georgia Tech added a single run in the second on consecutive doubles to end the lead to 3-1, and then chased Pohle when Brandon Thomas led off the third with another double. Pohle was replaced by Scott FirthScott Firth
Jr. RH Pitcher
#20 6-0, 165
Buffalo Grove, IL
View Full Profile , who got Davies to fly out to right, but Thomas scored a batter later after Daniel Palka’s grounder wasn’t fielded cleanly by Spencer McGibbon at first.

Zane Evans followed that with a double that scored Palka, and the Jackets had all the runs they would need in taking the win. Pohle lasted two innings and gave up four earned runs, but Firth turned in a superlative effort out of the pen, tossing 6 1/3 innings, giving up the one unearned run, striking out two and walking three.

Firth said the outing allowed him to get into a rhythm.

“I was able to find some of my other pitches a little bit,” he said. “They were seeing the ball well today, but the big thing was just keeping them off balance a little bit and throw more curveballs and changeups. Just mix things up a little bit and keep them off of my fastball.”

Clemson left seven runners on base – they only had two leadoff batters reach base in the contest – including leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. Singles by Jason StolzJason Stolz
Sr. Infielder
#2 6-2, 205
Marietta, GA
View Full Profile and Brad FelderBrad Felder
Gr. Outfielder
#3 6-0, 200
Bowman, SC
View Full Profile and a walk by Spencer KieboomSpencer Kieboom
Jr. Catcher
#22 6-0, 220
Marietta, GA
View Full Profile loaded the bases for Wilkerson, who grounded out weakly to first to end the threat.

“We just couldn’t get the leadoff man on base, which would have helped us,” Leggett said. “It would have let us play our game a little bit more. But I think he [Davies] had his changeup going and threw his breaking ball for strikes. That was the key as I saw it.”

Clemson is now 1-6 in the last seven games, and has to wait on for the NCAA Tournament selection to see where they go next. Leggett, for his part, says Clemson deserves a shot at post-season baseball.

“I would hope so,” Leggett said. “Our strength of schedule is sixth in the country and our RPI is 26. We have got some good things going for us that way. We have played more games against top 50 teams than anybody else in the country. I would be surprised and disappointed if it came out any other way.”

Georgia Tech 5 (35-24)


Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB


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


Kyle Wren cf.............  5  1  1  0   0  1  2  0   0


Sam Dove 3b..............  2  0  0  0   2  0  0  4   1


Brandon Thomas lf........  4  1  1  0   1  1  1  0   0


Jake Davies p/dh.........  5  1  1  2   0  0  0  0   2


Daniel Palka 1b..........  5  1  1  1   0  0 10  1   1


Zane Evans c.............  4  0  3  1   0  0  6  0   1


Mott Hyde ss.............  4  0  0  0   0  0  2  3   1


Dan Spingola rf..........  4  1  2  0   0  0  3  0   1


Thomas Smith 2b..........  4  0  1  1   0  1  2  3   2


 Alex Cruz p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0


Totals................... 37  5 10  5   3  3 27 11   9


Clemson 1 (33-26)


Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB


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


Steve Wilkerson 2b.......  4  1  1  1   0  0  2  5   3


Thomas Brittle cf........  4  0  1  0   0  0  2  0   0


Richie Shaffer 3b........  2  0  0  0   1  0  0  4   2


Phil Pohl dh.............  4  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   1


Jay Baum lf..............  2  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0


 Joe Costigan ph.........  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0


 Dominic Attanasio lf....  1  0  1  0   0  0  1  0   0


Jon McGibbon 1b..........  4  0  0  0   0  1 13  2   0


Jason Stolz ss...........  4  0  1  0   0  1  2  3   0


Brad Felder rf...........  4  0  1  0   0  2  2  0   1


Spencer Kieboom c........  2  0  0  0   1  0  2  1   0


Kevin Pohle p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0


 Scott Firth p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  2  1   0


 Joseph Moorefield p.....  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0


Totals................... 32  1  5  1   2  5 27 17   7


Score by Innings                    R  H  E


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


Georgia Tech........ 212 000 000 -  5 10  1


Clemson............. 100 000 000 -  1  5  2


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


E - HYDE(16); McGIBBON(8); S. KIEBOOM(3). DP - Georgia Tech 1. LOB - Georgia


Tech 9; Clemson 7. 2B - THOMAS(15); EVANS 2(16); SPINGOLA(3); SMITH(6). HR -


DAVIES(13); WILKERSON(1). HBP - SHAFFER. SH - DOVE(5). SB - DOVE(12);


SHAFFER(8).


Georgia Tech           IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF


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


Jake Davies.........  6.0  2  1  1  1  3 21 22


Alex Cruz...........  3.0  3  0  0  1  2 11 13


Clemson                IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF


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


Kevin Pohle.........  2.0  6  4  4  0  1 11 12


Scott Firth.........  6.1  4  1  0  3  2 24 27


Joseph Moorefield...  0.2  0  0  0  0  0  2  2


Win - DAVIES (1-3).  Loss - POHLE (6-4).  Save - CRUZ (2).


HBP - by CRUZ (SHAFFER).


Umpires - HP: Jacob Asher  1B: Frank Sylvester  2B: Danny Everett  3B: Morris


Hodges  Start: 11:06 AM   Time: 2:50   Attendance: 3272


Game notes:


Clemson's David Haselden was ejected in the fifth inning.


POHLE faced 1 batter in the 3rd.

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