Clemson Advances to Super-Regional With 21-3 Blowout |
CLEMSON, SC - Not even Middle Tennessee coach Steve Peterson's wife couldn't
convince him his pitching could last Sunday against Clemson. "My wife was telling me how everything was going to work great and work great, but in my mind I was thinking if we start getting beat up on the mound we're in trouble," said Peterson. Big trouble. MTSU (39-23) scored three runs in the bottom of the first to take a 3-1 lead against Clemson starter Jarrod Schmidt. Clemson (48-16) then scored 20 unanswered runs to win 21-3 in front of 4,017 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium and advance to the super regional next weekend against Mississippi State. "Jarrod really settled in and we played excellent defensively," said Clemson coach Jack Leggett. "We put pressure on them in nearly every inning." Clemson scored two in the top of the second to tie the game 3-3 and scored one in the third and fourth innings. Clemson left no doubt about the outcome with five runs in both the fifth and sixth innings and six in the seventh to take a 21-3 lead. Second baseman and ninth hitter Ryan Riley drove in five runs for Clemson. He drove in two with a single in the second and two with another single in the sixth. Designated hitter Henri Stanley went 4-for-5 and scored four times. "Our hitting was lackluster yesterday, but it's hard to hold our bats down," said Stanley. Jarrod Schmidt earned a visit from pitching coach Kevin O'Sullivan after giving up two runs in the first. MTSU loaded the bases against Schmidt before Wes Whitehead flew out to center to end the inning. Schmidt then retired the next nine batters and didn't allow another run before Steve Reba came in to start the seventh inning. "I left a lot of balls out over the plate," said Schmidt (9-0). "After that things worked out well." Jamie Powers lasted just one inning for MTSU before giving way to six different relievers. "I was looking for a good start out of our pitching. I'm a pitching defense guy. If we can stay close we'll play good enough defense to keep us in the ball game. I didn't expect a shut out or anything like that, but I hoped we could stay in the game. I would have liked to have seen what would have happened if we had kept it close." Clemson will find out on Monday at 3:30 if it will host the super regional. "We're a fourth seed in the country coming in and took care of business this weekend and did what we had to do," said Leggett. "The way things have gone in the past they keep going with the higher seed. "I haven't been speculating that that it would be held anyplace but Clemson. Our financial bid is very competitive. The reason they seeded the top eight teams in the beginning was to say if these eight teams win, they would be the super regional host. That's the reason you seed those eight teams in the beginning. I would think that we would get a super regional tomorrow to be quite honest with you." Regional All-Tournament Team MVP--Casey Stone, Clemson 1B--Kris Lammers, Middle Tennessee 2B--Ryan Riley, Clemson 3B--*Craig Marquie, Illinois SS--Tim Hummel, Old Dominion OF--*Casey Stone, Clemson OF--Jeff Parson, Middle Tennessee OF--Justin Singleton, Clemson C--*Brian Ellis, Clemson P--*Ryan Mottl, Clemson P--Jason Anderson, Illinois DH/UT--Henri Stanley, Clemson *Unanimous selection BOXSCORE
Clemson at Middle Tennessee
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