Baseball Road Trip Concludes at Wake Forest |
Clemson Baseball at Wake Forest March 23-25, 2001 Friday: 3:00 PM * Saturday: 1:30 PM * Sunday: 1:30 PM All Games Broadcast on the Clemson Tiger Network Clemson: 15-6 Overall, 3-0 ACC * 14 BA; 10 CB; 11 BW Wake Forest: 17-5 Overall, 5-1 ACC * 20 BA; 24 CB; 20 BW Road Trip Concludes at Wake Forest Winston-Salem, NC is the last stop of the Tigers' current eight-game, 10-day road trip that began Friday, March 16. Clemson actually departed Tigertown on Thursday, March 15 and will return following Sunday's series finale at Wake Forest, making it 11 days since the Tigers were last in their own clubhouse. Clemson swept three games at Maryland and then split games at Old Dominion Tuesday and Wednesday in Norfolk, VA. Clemson claimed the first game 11-1, but dropped the second game 10-8. The Tigers arrived Thursday afternoon in Winston-Salem. The Tigers and Demon Deacons will play at 3:00 PM on Friday and at 1:30 PM on both Saturday and Sunday. All three games will be broadcast on the Clemson Tiger Network with Jim Phillips and Bob Mahony. Clemson vs. Wake Forest Friday's meeting with the Demon Deacons will be the 137th meeting between Clemson and Wake Forest, dating back to 1901. Clemson is 94-41 all-time against the Deacons. The Tigers won two of three games against Wake Forest last year, including both games of a Saturday doubleheader, the first game of which went 12 innings (6-5 and 5-4). Wake responded on Sunday with a 6-4 victory. The wins last year by Clemson snapped a six-game losing streak to Wake Forest. The Deacons swept the three regular season games of 1999, which was the first time that had happened since 1952, and then won both meetings in the ACC Tournament in Durham, NC, including a 9-5 win in the championship game. Under head coach Jack Leggett, Clemson is 15-9 vs. Wake Forest. He had won eight in a row against the Deacons to start his tenure at Clemson. Probable Clemson Starters vs. Wake Forest Friday, March 23: Steve Reba (RHP; 4-0, 2.63 ERA) Saturday, March 24: Ryan Childs (RHP; 1-1, 6.08 ERA) Sunday, March 25: TBA Next Week for Clemson Tuesday, March 27: Wofford, Clemson, 7:15 PM Wednesday, March 28: at Georgia, Athens, GA, 6:30 PM Friday, March 30: New York Institute of Technology, Clemson, 7:15 PM Saturday, March 31: New York Institute of Technology, Clemson, 7:00 PM Sunday, April 1: New York Institute of Technology, Clemson, 1:00 PM This Year's Trip In Reverse Order from 1995 In1995, Clemson took the same road trip as it did this year, except in reverse order. Clemson opened that trip with three wins at Wake Forest (10-7, 4-3 and 10-5), won both games at Old Dominion and then won three games at Maryland. Clemson won three games against the Terps last weekend to begin this year's road trip and then split games at Old Dominion. This year's trip concludes this weekend at Wake Forest. Leading Clemson on the Road Trip Catcher Steve Pyzik is an amazing 8 for 14 (.571) through the first five games of the current eight-game road trip. He was batting just .154 (4 for 26) when the Tigers left Clemson March 15. So far on the trip he has one double, a team-best six RBIs and has scored two runs. Two other Tigers are batting better than .400 on the road trip. Designated hitter Russell Triplett was 4 for 8 at Old Dominion, but he is 4 for 9 for all five games so far. In the 11-1 win Tuesday night at Old Dominion he was 3 for 5 with one RBI and three runs scored. All three of his hits were doubles. Reserve catcher Seth Miller is batting .429, though he has had only seven at bats, he has three hits with a double and two RBIs. Khalil Greene also had a good pair of games at Old Dominion. He was 4 for 8 with a double and a home run with two RBIs. Clemson has hit 17 doubles, three triples and four home runs on the current road trip. The Tigers had six doubles Tuesday night at Old Dominion. Casey Stone Top Tiger in Batting Average, Steals Left fielder Casey Stone is batting .409 for the year with 38 hits in 93 at bats. He has 19 RBI with six doubles. He has started all 21 games in left for Clemson this year. He is also the top Tiger on the base paths. In 15 attempts, he has stolen 13 bases. He also has a pair of sacrifice hits and sacrifice flies. Four other Clemson players are batting better than .350. Jeff Baker is batting .384 with a team best seven home runs and 30 RBI. He has a .709 slugging percentage. Seth Miller is batting .359, Russell Triplett is batting .353 and Michael Johnson is batting .350. Johnson has a drawn a team-best 22 walks and is second on the team with six home runs. Steve Reba has Emerged as Top Pitcher Right-handed pitcher Steve Reba has emerged as the top Tiger hurler this season. In 27.1 innings, he has a 2.63 ERA, allowing just eight runs and 13 total hits. He has a team-high 28 strike outs with just 10 walks. Opposing batters are hitting just .144 against the junior. In five starts, he is 4-0. Both Reba and sophomore Jarrod Schmidt have struck out a game-best nine batters. Reba fanned nine batters in his season debut against Richmond while Schmidt threw past nine batters Tuesday night at Old Dominion. Schmidt has a 3-2 record in his five starts with a 5.91 ERA. He has 24 strikeouts this season with just nine walks. Junior transfer Josh Cram leads the Tigers in saves with three. Through 11.0 innings, he has struck out 11. He has allowed six runs, though only two were earned. Opposing batters are batting just .116 against Cram. Boyd Returns, then Returns to Bench Patirck Boyd played his first game of the season March 11 in the 17-4 win over Ohio University. The senior preseason All-American sat out all of preseason practice and missed the team's first 13 games of the season with a stress fracture in his back. Boyd was 1 for 3 with a double and scored two runs against Ohio, but the pain continued and forced him to miss the two games with Georgia Southern. On March 14, he flew with team doctor Byron Harder to Tampa, FL to be checked out by a back specialist, who works primarily with major and minor league baseball players. The short-term prognosis is not good for Boyd, who has already started the 5-6 week rehabilitation process and will miss as many weeks with the team. Boyd was a 1999 All-American and is a 2001 preseason second-team All-American by Baseball America. He is a career .341 hitter with a .442 on-base percentage and 49 stolen bases in three seasons. The senior from Palm Harbor, FL ranks in the school's career top-10 lists in five different categories, including walks, doubles, runs scored, hits and RBIs. Against Ranked Teams The Tigers are 1-1 against ranked teams this season. Clemson lost 21-7 at home to a fourth-ranked South Carolina team on March 3, but the Tigers regrouped on March 4 in Columbia to hand the Gamecocks a 7-4 setback, their first loss of the year against 13 wins. This weekend's opponent, Wake Forest, is ranked in all three of the college baseball polls. The Demon Deacons are ranked 20th in the Baseball America and Baseball Weekly/ESPN and are ranked 24th in the Collegiate Baseball poll.
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