Clemson Baseball Preview vs. College of Charleston |
Clemson vs. College of Charleston
Clemson (33-19), ranked as high as #24, will play host to #20 College of Charleston (41-10) Tuesday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 PM. The game will be broadcast live on the radio by WCCP (104.9 FM) out of Clemson. Live stats will be available online at ClemsonTigers.com as well. The Starting Pitchers College of Charleston will start senior righty Danny Gemma (7-2, 4.01 ERA) on the mound Tuesday. The Fair Oaks, CA native leads the team in wins. In nine starts and seven relief appearances, he has allowed 96 hits and only nine walks with 62 strikeouts in 76.1 innings pitched. Clemson will counter with freshman righty David Kopp (3-3, 4.78 ERA) on Tuesday. The Margate, FL native has made six starts and 11 relief appearances for a total of 52.2 innings pitched. He has allowed 50 hits and 21 walks with 41 strikeouts. The Series Clemson and College of Charleston have met 13 times on the baseball diamond. The Tigers have won all 13 games, including a 15-4 win at College of Charleston on March 5, 2004 and a 19-8 win at Doug Kingmsore Stadium on May 12, 2004. In 2003, Clemson also won both meetings, including a 7-6 come-from-behind win at Mount Pleasant, SC on March 18, 2003. Clemson also won 6-2 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on March 5, 2003. Clemson won two games in 2002 and the only meeting in 2001 as well. Before the game in 2001, the two had not played each other since 1912. The Tigers lead 8-0 in games played at Clemson and 4-0 in games played at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Head Coach Jack Leggett is 7-0 against the Cougars. The Cougars College of Charleston, led by sixth-year Head Coach John Pawlowski, enters the game Tuesday with a #20 ranking and 41-10 overall record after winning two of three games at Georgia Southern last weekend. Pawlowski lettered at Clemson three times (1983-85) and went on to play two years (1987,88) in the Major Leagues with the Chicago White Sox. He later went on to be Clemson's pitching coach from 1994-98, coaching the likes of Kris Benson, Billy Koch, and Ken Vining. Another member of the Cougar squad has ties to the Tiger program. Jess Easterling, who played in Tigertown in 2003 after red-shirting in 2002, is hitting .300 with six homers and 39 RBIs in 50 games. The Cougars have won 12 of their last 13 games and sport one of the most potent offensive attacks in the country. They are hitting .364 as team, led by Brett Gardner's .444 average, 15-game hitting streak, and 28 stolen bases in 29 attempts. D.J. Wabick is hitting .419 with eight homers and 61 RBIs, while Phillip Coker is batting .407. Chris Campbell leads the club in homers (11) and RBIs (69) along with his .396 batting average. The team, which is 17-5 on the road this season, has hit 152 doubles, 15 triples, and 51 homers while slugging .542. The team has walked 196 times with 92 hit-by-pitches compared to only 244 strikeouts. College of Charleston is averaging 9.4 runs per game, and has totaled 73 sacrifice bunts along with 83 steals in 105 attempts. The Cougars are 6-2 in both one-run and two-run games, and are 33-0 when leading after seven innings and 35-0 when leading after eight innings. They have already clinched the Southern Conference regular-season championship with a leauge mark of 25-5. The team also sports a solid .969 fielding percentage and an RPI of #7 according to WarrenNolan.com. The pitching staff has a 4.13 ERA and .273 opponents' batting average. Junior righthander Brett Harker, a native of Greenville, SC, has a 2.59 ERA and 12 saves in 23 relief appearances. He also has 50 strikeouts against only seven walks. The team has struck out 435 against only 148 walks, good for a 2.94 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 2.88 walks per nine innings pitched mark. The Tigers Clemson, ranked as high as #24, enters the game against #20 College of Charleston with a 33-19 overall record and 18-9 mark in the ACC after sweeping a three-game series at Wake Forest over the weekend. In fact, Clemson has won five games in a row, all ACC road games. The Tigers, who are 18-7 at home, have played just 25 home games compared to 25 games on opponents' home fields and two neutral-site games. Clemson is also 11-7 against top-25 ranked teams. The Tigers are hitting .309 as a team and are led at the plate by two freshmen. Taylor Harbin is hitting a team-best .356 with 23 doubles, nine homers, and 53 RBIs, while Brad Chalk is hitting .353 with a .450 on-base percentage. Travis Storrer owns a 16-game hitting streak and has raised his average to .349. Kris Harvey, who leads the ACC in homers (18) suffered a contusion on his left wrist when he was hit by a pitch at Wake Forest on Saturday. He did not play on Sunday, his first missed game of the season. His status for the College of Charleston game is listed as day-to-day. The pitching staff has a 4.13 ERA and .271 opponents' batting average. Josh Cribb earned ACC Pitcher-of-the-Week honors thanks to two victories and only one run allowed in 12.0 innings pitched last week. The team is fielding at a .970 clip as well after committing just one error in the Wake Forest series. Clemson Back in Collegiate Baseball Poll After a 10-week hiatus, Clemson emerged back in the top 25 of the Collegiate Baseball poll at #24 this week. The Tigers went 5-0 in five ACC road games last week and are ranked in the top 25 for the first time since the February 28 Collegiate Baseball poll, when the Tigers were also #24. Clemson Reaches 2,300 All-Time Wins Clemson became the ninth team in NCAA history to reach the 2,300 all-time win mark when it defeated Wake Forest 6-5 on May 15, 2005. Clemson has a 2,300-1,279-29 all-time record in its 108th year of baseball. Clemson also became the first team in the southeastern region of the United States to reach 2,300 wins. The Tigers joined Fordham, Texas, Southern California, Michigan, Stanford, Arizona State, Washington State, and Arizona in the elite company. Casanova at Top of His Game at Bottom of Lineup Junior catcher Adrian Casanova (Miami, FL) has provided punch at the bottom of the batting order in recent weeks. His batting average had been hovering in the low-to-mid .200 range most of the season, including at .234 after the Georgia Tech game on May 1. But since the Tigers took off six days for final exams, the ninth-place batter in the order is 10-for-17 (.588) with two homers, a double, and seven RBIs in six games. He has raised his batting average to .281. He is also hitting .333 in ACC regular-season games. His 11 sacrifice bunts are tied for second-most in a season in Tiger history as well. Storrer Riding a 16-Game Hitting Streak Junior outfielder Travis Storrer (Mount Vernon, WA) is currently on a 16-game hitting streak and has raised his batting average to .349 with five homers and 36 RBIs. During the streak, he is hitting .444 (28-for-63). It is the second-longest streak by a Tiger in 2005, trailing only Tyler Colvin's 19-game hitting streak in April. Rohrbaugh Second in the ACC in League Wins Junior lefty Robert Rohrbaugh (Littlestown, PA) has a 6-2 record and 4.83 ERA in 12 starts and two relief appearances (69.0 innings pitched) in 2005. Unlike last season, when he received little run support, he has been the benefactor of a hot lineup when he has started this year. The quiet hurler is a pitcher Head Coach Jack Leggett likes to call upon because he is a pitcher who performs on a consistent basis. Although he may not dazzle with a hard fastball or sharp breaking ball, he has been Mr. Reliable for Leggett the past three years. And this year, he has a 6-1 record in ACC games. The six wins in the league are the second-most, trailing only Cesar Carrillo, who is 8-0 in nine ACC starts for Miami (FL) this season. Tigers Sweep Wake Forest on the Road Clemson swept Wake Forest by a combined score of 27-20 in a three-game series in Winston-Salem, NC from May 13-15. The Tigers won by scores of 4-1, 17-14 (11 innings), and 6-5. Clemson hit .349 with 10 doubles and two homers in the series, while Wake Forest hit .291 with six long balls. Taylor Harbin was 8-for-15 (.533) with five runs scored, while Travis Storrer was 6-for-12 to up his hitting streak to 16 games. Adrian Casanova was 5-for-10 with a homer and four RBIs, while Tyler Colvin added seven RBIs. Clemson committed just one error all weekend, that being a throwing error from the outfield. In game one, Stephen Faris pitched a complete game six-hitter to lead the Tigers to a 4-1 win on May 13. Faris allowed one run, one walk, and six hits with five strikeouts. Wake Forest starter Brian Bach retired 22 Tigers in a row after the Herman Demmink, who came around to score, led off the game with a double. But the Tigers got to Bach for three runs on six hits in the final two innings. A two-out, pinch-hit single by Jesse Ferguson in the eighth gave the Tigers the lead, then a two-run double in the ninth by Colvin gave Clemson much-needed insurance runs. In game two, Clemson rallied from a 13-6 deficit to top the Demon Deacons 17-14 in 11 innings on May 14. Andy D'Alessio went 3-for-6 with a homer, double, and six RBIs, and made a game-saving play on a ground ball with the bases loaded and the score tied in the ninth inning. His two-run double in the 11th inning put the Tigers ahead for good. Eight different Tigers had at least two hits, including a team-high four by Harbin. Casanova had three hits, including a homer, and four RBIs as well. Clemson had 17 runs on 23 hits. Josh Cribb made an appearance out of the bullpen and earned the win. The scheduled starter for game three allowed just one run on three hits in the final 3.0 innings, as he worked out of several jams. Ben Ingold went 6-for-6 for the Demon Deacons, who drew nine walks and six hit-by-pitches. In game three, Clemson scored six runs in the first three innings and held on for a 6-5 win on May 15. Colvin had four RBIs and three hits, including a double, while Harbin had three hits and two doubles. Clemson, who totaled 14 hits in all, did not commit an error. Starter Robert Rohrbaugh earned the win in 6.2 innings of work, while Drew Fiorenza picked up his first save as a Tiger, pitching 2.1 scoreless innings of one-hit ball with three strikeouts. The Tigers turned three double plays, including a 6-4-3 game-ending double play in the ninth inning. The win was Clemson's 2,300th in school history.
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