Tigers Win Season Opener Over Auburn, 7-4

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CLEMSON, SC - The third-ranked Clemson baseball team opened the 2002

season with a 7-4 win over Auburn on Friday afternoon at Doug

Kingsmore Stadium. Steve Reba (1-0) earned the win while Paul

Harrelson picked up his first career save. Levale Speigner (2-1)

picked up his first loss of the season for Auburn, which dropped to

7-2.

The home-opening win was the seventh in nine tries for Clemson under

Head Coach Jack Leggett. Clemson is now 5-0 alltime in home openers

against Auburn.

The fireworks began early for Clemson with three first-inning runs.

After Kyle Frank singled and moved to second on an error, Khalil

Greene singled through the right side to score Frank. Baker came to

the plate and then crushed the ball to deep center, nearly clearing

the 40-foot wall, to give the Tigers an early 3-0 advantage.

Auburn responded with two runs in a two-out, third inning rally. It

loaded the bases with a single by Bobby Huddleston sandwiched between

walks by Trent Pratt and Mike Mueller. Scott Schade singled home a

run and Matt Grooms walked before Reba got out of the jam.

Baker extended the Clemson lead to 4-2 when his shot to center just

cleared the fence and the glove of a leaping Josh Todd. The home run

was the 36th of Baker's career, moving him to sixth on the Clemson

all-time list. It was also the eighth time in his career that Baker

homered twice in a game, a school record.

The Tigers of Auburn would not quit, however, and scored runs in the

fourth and sixth innings to knot the game at four. Clemson regained

the lead in the bottom of the sixth thanks to two sacrifice bunts.

Singles by Johnson and Jarrod Schmidt were followed by David Slevin's

sacrifice to give the Tigers runners at first and third with one out.

Leggett then called for a squeeze play which Russell Triplett

executed perfectly to score Johnson.

After another RBI-single by Greene in the seventh, Johnson scored

again when he roped a line drive down the right field line that made

the final margin 7-4. Greene, Baker and Johnson, the 3-4-5 hitters in

the Clemson batting order, combined to bat 7-12 with six RBIs on the

day. B.J. LaMura pitched two solid innings of relief before giving

way to Harrelson, who struck out two of the three batters he faced in

the ninth.

Game two will begin at 2:00 PM on Saturday. Matt Henrie (0-0) is

slated to take the mound for Clemson and Colby Paxton (2-0) is

scheduled to pitch for Auburn.

BOX SCORE

Auburn 4 (7-2)


Player		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	PO	A	LOB


Moran cf	5	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	0


Hulett 2b	4	0	1	1	1	1	2	2	0


Pratt, T. c	4	1	0	0	1	1	1	2	0


Huddleston dh	4	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0


Mueller lf	3	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	2


 Gamble lf	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0


Schade 1b	4	0	2	1	0	0	12	0	0


Grooms rf	2	0	0	1	1	1	2	0	1


 Vines rf	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0


Todd 3b	2	1	1	0	1	1	1	6	3


Jeroloman ss	3	0	1	0	0	0	2	2	2


Speigner, L. p	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0


 Dueitt p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0


Totals......	31	4	9	3	6	6	24	16	8


Clemson 7 (1-0)


Player			AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	PO	A	LOB


L.J. DeMaino lf		3	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0


Kyle Frank cf		4	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	2


Khalil Greene ss	4	1	2	2	0	0	3	5	0


Jeff Baker 3b		4	2	2	3	0	0	1	3	2


Michael Johnson 1b	4	2	3	1	0	0	9	0	0


Jarrod Schmidt rf	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0


David Slevin 2b		3	0	1	0	0	0	4	4	0


Russell Triplett dh	3	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0


Steve Pyzik c		3	1	1	0	0	0	6	2	0


Steve Reba p		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0


 B.J. LaMura p		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0


 Paul Harrelson p	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0


Totals......		32	7	13	7	0	1	27	16	4


Score by Innings                    R  H  E


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Auburn.............. 002 101 000 -  4  9  2


Clemson............. 301 001 11X -  7 13  2


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E - Hulett(1); Todd(3); SLEVIN(1); REBA(1). DP - Auburn 1; Clemson 2. LOB -


Auburn 8; Clemson 4. 2B - Todd(2). HR - BAKER 2(2); JOHNSON(1). SH -


Todd(2); Jeroloman(3); DEMAINO(1); SLEVIN(1); TRIPLETT(1). SB - GREENE(1).


CS - Moran(2); Hulett(1); JOHNSON(1).


Auburn		IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	AB	BF


Speigner, L.	6.2	11	6	6	0	1	27	30


Dueitt		1.1	2	1	1	0	0	5	5


Clemson		IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	AB	BF


Steve Reba	6.0	9	4	3	4	3	23	29


B.J. LaMura	2.0	0	0	0	2	1	5	7


Paul Harrelson	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	3	3


Win - REBA (1-0).  Loss - Speigner, L. (2-1).  Save - HARRELSON (1).


Umpires - Home:David Savage  1st:Paul Nauert  3rd:Tony Thompson


Start: 3:10   Time: 2:23   Attendance: 3052

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