Baseball Completes Three Game Sweep of Blue Devils |
Clemson Scores Five in Fifth on Way to 6-4 Victory
CLEMSON - Clemson scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on its way to a 6-4 victory and a three-game sweep of the Duke Blue Devils Sunday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers fell in an early hole, trailing 3-0 before a five-run, fifth inning that gave them the lead. It was the fourth time in as many games that Clemson put up five runs in one inning. The Tigers scored five runs in the ninth inning in a come-from-behind extra inning win over Coastal Carolina. Clemson scored five in the fifth inning against the Blue Devils on Friday and then scored five in the first inning on Saturday. Clemson's three-game sweep coupled with Wake Forest's 2-1 series win over Georgia Tech vaulted the Tigers from fourth place in the ACC standings on Friday into second place behind only Florida State on Sunday. The Seminoles, who swept Clemson, April 6-8, are 14-1 in first place, followed by Clemson (8-4), Wake Forest (11-7) and Georgia Tech (9-6). Duke, which had failed to score a run before the fourth inning in either of the two previous games this weekend, scored one run in the first inning. Troy Caradonna singled to score Bryan Smith who opened the game with a single over the third baseman's head. The Blue Devils scored the one run on three hits in the inning. The Blue Devils added a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning. After a Doug Bechtold and J.D. Alleva drew walks, Caradonna singled to center field, where Chad Coder let the ball get past him. Both Bechtold and Alleva scored and Caradonna ended up at third before Jarrod Schmidt struck out Drew Jerdan for his third strike out. Clemson scored five runs on four hits in the fifth inning to take a 5-3 lead. Casey Stone led off with a double and then Ryan Riley was hit by Duke starter Justin Dilucchio. Michael Johnson followed with a single to score Stone and then Khalil Greene doubled to score Riley. Schmidt tied the game with a base hit that scored Johnson. The Tigers added two runs on a throwing error by Alleva at third base. Duke got one run back in the top of the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Scott Grossi that scored Kevin Kelly, but Clemson added an insurance run in the eighth on a base hit by Riley that scored Steve Pyzik. Schmidt got the win in 5 1/3 innings allowing just four runs (three earned) off eight hits. He improved to 4-3 on the year and struck out four batters. Dilucchio dropped to 1-2 on the year after giving up four the of the five Clemson runs in 4 1/3 innings. Josh Cram picked up his fourth save for the Tigers. Four Tigers had 2 for 4 performances on Sunday including Stone, Riley, Greene and Pyzik, who led the team with two RBIs, Clemson returns to action Tuesday night versus Georgia at 7:15 PM at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Georgia claimed an 8-4 meeting with the Tigers in Athens on March 18.
Duke University 4 (17-24,5-9 ACC)
GAME 2:
Clemson, SC--Steve Reba struck out a career high 12 batters and
Jarrod Schmidt socked a pair of homers and drove in five runs to lead
Clemson to a 10-1 victory over Duke Saturday night at Kingsmore
Stadium. The Tigers improved to 24-13 overall, 7-4 in the ACC,
while Duke fell to 17-23 overall, 5-8 in the ACC.
Clemson won the first meeting of the series 10-2 on Friday
night. The third game of the series will be played Sunday afternoon
at 2:00 PM.
Reba went six innings, allowed just two hits and one run.
He struck out 12 and walked just three. His strikeout total was the
high mark by a Clemson pitcher since Ryan Mottl had 12 in a loss to
Virginia on April 4, 1998. Reba gained his second victory this week
and is now 7-1 for the season. He is tied for the ACC lead in
pitching victories.
One of the players tied with Reba in that win column is Duke
starter Kevin Thompson. Clemson lowed Thompson's record to 7-3 by
touching him up for seven earned runs and seven hits in 4 1/3
innings.
Schmidt provided the offense with a pair of home runs, the
eighth time this year a Clemson batter has had two home runs in the
same game. Michael Johnson accomplished the feat in the first game
of the series with Duke on Friday night. Schmidt had two homers and
a single in four plate appearances and drove in five runs on Saturday
night.
Khalil Greene also supplied support as Clemson's starting
shortstop had three hits and a walk and scored three runs. Greene
now has eight hits in his last three games.
Clemson scored one run in the bottom of the first without the
benefit of a base hit. Casey Stone was Clemson's first batter and he
reached second when Duke shortstop Kevin Kelly fielded his grounder,
but overthrew first baseman Adam Loftin. Stone then advanced to
third on a fly ball by Kyle Frank. Jeff Baker then scored Stone
with a sacrifice fly.
Duke tied the game in the top of the fourth. Bryan Smith led
off the inning with Duke's first hit, a double to right center. J.D.
Alleva followed with a single, moving Smith to third. One out and
two batters later, Kevin Kelly hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield,
scoring Smith.
Clemson added two more runs in the fourth. Greene singled
with one out and scored when Schmidt hit an opposite field home run
to right center.
Clemson broke the game open in the fifth with five runs,
Clemson's third five-run inning in the last 17 innings. With one
out, Stone lofted his second home run of the season over the right
field fence. It was just his second home run in four years at
Kingsmore Stadium.
Clemson continued to put runs on the board in the frame.
Kyle Frank and Jeff Baker followed Stone's heroics with consecutive
singles, then Michael Johnson was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Greene walked to score one run, then Schmidt singled in a run to
give Clemson a 6-1 lead. Ryan Riley then knocked in two more runs
with a single to center.
Clemson made the count 10-1 when Greene and Schmidt
duplicated their feats of the fourth inning. Greene singled and was
followed by Schmidt's 12th home run of the year, this time to dead
center.
J.D. Alleva was the only Duke player to register a pair of
hits. Clemson's pitching staff struck out 14 Blue Devils, the high
total for the Clemson staff in a single game since April 19 of last
year when Clemson struck out 14 South Carolina batters.
Duke University 1 (17-23,5-8 ACC) Player AB R H BI Bryan Smith dh 5 1 1 0 JD Alleva 3b/c 3 0 2 0 Wes Goodner cf 2 0 0 0 Brian Patrick ph/lf 1 0 0 0 Troy Caradonna c/3b 3 0 0 0 Kevin Kelly ss 3 0 0 1 David Mason rf 4 0 0 0 Doug Bechtold lf 2 0 0 0 Gideon Thompson cf 2 0 1 0 Adam Loftin 1b 2 0 0 0 Drew Jerdan ph/1b 1 0 1 0 Scott Grossi 2b 4 0 0 0 Kevin Thompson p 0 0 0 0 Jeff Alleva p 0 0 0 0 Kevin Perry p 0 0 0 0 Totals...... 32 1 5 1 Clemson University 10 (24-13,7-4 ACC) Player AB R H BI Casey Stone lf 5 2 1 1 Kyle Frank rf 3 1 1 0 Zane Green rf 2 0 0 0 Jeff Baker 3b 3 1 1 1 Michael Johnson 1b 3 1 1 0 Khalil Greene ss 3 3 3 1 Ryan Klosterman ss 0 0 0 0 Jarrod Schmidt dh 4 2 3 5 Chad Coder cf 4 0 0 0 Ryan Riley 2b 4 0 1 2 Russell Triplett 2b 0 0 0 0 Steve Pyzik c 3 0 0 0 Seth Miller c 1 0 0 0 Jon Smith c 0 0 0 0 Steve Reba p 0 0 0 0 Kevin Lynn p 0 0 0 0 Steven Jackson p 0 0 0 0 Totals...... 35 10 11 10 Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Duke University..... 000 100 000 - 1 5 1 Clemson University.. 100 250 20X - 10 11 1 ------------------------------------------- E - Kevin Kelly(18); TRIPLETT(1). LOB - Duke 9; Clemson 4. 2B - Bryan Smith(2). HR - STONE(2); SCHMIDT 2(12). HBP - JOHNSON. SF - Kevin Kelly(3); BAKER(2). SB - JD Alleva(6); GREENE(8). Duke University IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO Kevin Thompson L,7-3 4.1 7 8 7 1 3 0 0 1 0 20 23 8 2 Jeff Alleva 2.2 4 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 12 12 4 3 Kevin Perry 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 1 Clemson University IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO Steve Reba W,7-1 6.0 2 1 1 3 12 0 0 0 0 19 23 3 3 Kevin Lynn 2.0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 8 8 2 3 Steven Jackson 1.0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 5 6 0 2 HB - Kevin Thomps. Strikeouts - Bryan Smith; JD Alleva; Wes Goodner 2; Troy Caradon; Kevin Kelly 2; David Mason; Doug Bechtol 2; Adam Loftin 2; Scott Grossi 2; STONE; GREEN; JOHNSON; CODER 3. Walks - JD Alleva; Brian Patric; Troy Caradon; Drew Jerdan; GREENE. Umpires - Home:George Frazee 1st:Vance Coleman 3rd:Danny Waller Start: 7:06 PM Time: 2:32 Attendance: 2403
GAME 1:
Clemson, SC--Michael Johnson hit two home runs and a double, and Matt
Henrie allowed just one unearned run in seven innings of work to lead
Clemson to a 10-2 win over Duke in ACC baseball action Friday night.
The 17th-ranked Tigers improved to 23-13 overall, 6-4 in the ACC with
the win, while Duke fell to 17-22 overall, 5-7 in the ACC.
Clemson wasted little time in taking control of the game. In
fact, Clemson had a 5-0 lead by 7:30 PM, just 15 minutes into the
game. Casey Stone and Kyle Frank led off the bottom of the first
inning with consecutive singles. One out later Johnson hit a long
home run to right field to give Clemson a 3-0 advantage.
Clemson continued the onslaught with the next hitter as
Khalil Greene singled. It was the fourth straight hit over two games
for Greene, who had singled home the winning run against Coastal
Carolina on Wednesday afternoon. That brought up Jarrod Schmidt and
the sophomore responded with his 10th home run of the season, a blast
to left center.
Clemson added another run in the third on a leadoff home run
by Johnson. That was his 10th home run of the season in just 114 at
bats. He had 10 total bases for the evening. He later added a
double and finished 3-5 at the plate.
Clemson made the count 10-0 with four more runs in the
fourth. Casey Stone tripled to lead off the inning. He scored when
Kyle Frank's fly ball to left was misplayed. Baker followed with a
single. That brought up Johnson, who promtly doubled home Frank, his
fifth RBI of the night. Khalil Green followed with a sacrifice fly
to score Baker. Schmidt then singled in Johnson with the fourth run
of the frame.
While Clemson was building a 10-0 lead, Henrie was holding
the Blue Devil bats in abeyance. He did not allow a run and gave up
just one hit over the first five innings. In fact, Duke failed to
hit the ball out of the infield in the first five innings. Henrie
had allowed just 12 fly ball outs all year entering this evenings
game. Overall, Henrie allowed just three hits and one unearned run
in his seven innings. He struck out seven and did not walk a batter
in improving to 4-1 for the season. Three of his four wins are
against ACC teams, the high figure on the club.
Duke scored its first run in the sixth. Scott Grossi reached
on an error, went to second on J.D. Alleva's single and scored on
another error. The Blue Devils added another run in the bottom of
the eighth on a walk, two hits and a fielder's choice.
In addition to Johnson's three hits and five RBIs, the Tigers
got three hits from Stone, two hits from Jeff Baker, two hits from
Khalil Greene and two hits and three RBIs from Schmidt. Duke got a
pair of hits from J.D. Alleva and right fielder David Mason. Duke
starter Ryan Caradonna went six innings, gave up 14 hits and nine
earned runs. He took the loss and fell to 4-8 for the season.
Duke University 2 (17-22,5-7 ACC) Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A Bryan Smith ss............ 5 0 1 0 0 1 2 2 JD Alleva 3b.............. 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 1 Wes Goodner cf............ 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 Brian Patrick lf.......... 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Troy Caradonna c.......... 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 Patrick Hannaway p........ 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Drew Jerdan dh/1b......... 3 0 0 0 0 3 1 1 David Mason rf............ 4 0 2 0 0 1 4 0 Doug Bechtold lf.......... 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Gideon Thompson ph/cf..... 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Adam Loftin 1b/c.......... 3 0 0 0 0 2 7 1 Scott Grossi 2b........... 3 2 1 0 1 1 0 2 Ryan Caradonna p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 Totals.................... 34 2 6 1 1 10 24 7 Clemson University 10 (23-13,6-4 ACC) Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A Casey Stone lf............ 4 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 Zane Green ph/lf.......... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Kyle Frank rf............. 5 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 Jeff Baker 3b............. 5 1 2 0 0 1 0 2 Michael Johnson 1b........ 5 3 3 5 0 0 12 0 Khalil Greene ss.......... 4 1 2 1 0 0 2 1 Jarrod Schmidt dh......... 5 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 Chad Coder cf............. 4 0 1 0 0 2 2 0 Ryan Riley 2b............. 3 0 0 0 1 1 1 10 Russell Triplett 2b....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Ryan Klosterman 2b........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Steve Pyzik c............. 3 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 Seth Miller ph/c.......... 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Jon Smith c............... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Matt Henrie p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Ryan Childs p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 B.J. LaMura p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals.................... 40 10 14 10 1 5 27 15 Score by innings: R H E ---------------------------------------------- Duke University 000 001 010 - 2 6 3 Clemson University 501 400 00 - 10 14 2 ---------------------------------------------- E - JD Alleva(7); Brian Patric(1); Doug Bechtol(2); RILEY 2(11). LOB - Duke 8; Clemson 8. 2B - BAKER(9); JOHNSON(10). 3B - STONE(1); CODER(2). HR - JOHNSON 2(10); SCHMIDT(10). SB - STONE(19); SCHMIDT(2); RILEY(8). SF - GREENE(4). Duke University IP H R ER BB SO AB BF Ryan Caradonna...... 6.0 14 10 9 0 3 33 34 Patrick Hannaway.... 2.0 0 0 0 1 2 7 8 Clemson University IP H R ER BB SO AB BF Matt Henrie......... 7.0 3 1 0 0 7 25 26 Ryan Childs......... 1.0 2 1 1 1 2 5 6 B.J. LaMura......... 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 4 5 Win - HENRIE 4-1. Loss - Ryan Caradon 4-8. Save - None. WP - HENRIE(3). HBP - by HENRIE (Drew Jerdan); by LAMURA (Adam Loftin). Umpires - Home:Danny Waller 1st:George Frazee 3rd:Vance Coleman Start: 7:14 PM Time: 2:25 Attendance: 2330
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