Cribb, Tigers Shut Out College of Charleston

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CLEMSON - Clemson righty Josh Cribb threw a two-hitter and shut out College of Charleston for the first time in more than two seasons in the Tigers 6-0 NCAA tournament victory Saturday night.

Cribb carried a no hitter into the fifth inning until Charleston catcher Brian Hastings dragged a bunt along the third base line for a hit. Phillip Coker's leadoff single an inning later was the only other hit for the Cougars (48-14), who were last held without a run on May 3, 2003, in a 1-0 loss to North Carolina Greensboro - a span of 137 games.

Clemson (41-21) improved to 15-0 all time against Charleston - and moved itself a win away from an NCAA super regional. Charleston takes on Oral Roberts, which eliminated North Carolina A&T 6-3 earlier Saturday, with the loser's season over. That winner would have to beat the Tigers twice to move on.

Cribb, who as a senior at Lake View High went the entire season without permitting an earned run, shut down Charleston's potent attack. Brett Gardner, who came in as the nation's hit leader with 121, was 0 for 4 and saw his 25-game hit streak end. D.J. Wabick, with 107 hits, and Chris Campbell, with 101, combined to go 0 for 7.

"He (Cribb) was tremendous, having the first shut out in the post season for a long time,"

said Clemson head coach Jack Leggett. "He had all of his pitches working for him tonight and that allowed us to play good defense behind him."

Brad Chalk got the Tigers (41-21) on the board in the fifth with a run-scoring single, his first RBI at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in 16 games since April 10.

With Cribb in control, Clemson didn't need much else.

Charleston, however, helped the Tigers along. After Andy D'Alessio doubled and took third on a wild pitch with one out in the sixth, Adrian Casanova's grounder to third looked like it might keep Clemson off the board. But the ball rolled up Jess Easterling's arms and into foul territory to bring in D'Alessio.

Herman Demmink followed with a single that brought in Stan Widmann and made it 3-0.

The Tigers put the game out of reach two innings later with an RBI single by Demmink, a run-scoring groundout by Chalk and Taylor Harbin's sacrifice fly to lead 6-0 in the eighth.

When Easterling lined out to shortstop to end the game, Cribb (8-4) bounced off the mound pumping his fists. It was Cribb's third complete game of the year. He finished with six strikeouts and allowed only four balls out of the infield all game.

Charleston starter Danny Gemma (7-4) gave up only the game's first run. But with Charleston's nonexistant offense, it was enough to earn the loss.

Notes

-Josh Cribb's pickoff at first base of Phillip Coker in the first inning was his team-leading sixth of the season

-Kris Harvey's second-inning double extended his current hitting streak to 10 games.

-Cribb carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning before Brian Hasting's bunt single down the third-base line with one out.

-Andy D'Alessio's double in the sixth inning was his third double of the regional. He is now hitting 4-for-6 with three doubles, an RBI, and three runs scored. With four walks, D'Alessio has reached base eight times in 10 plate appearances.

-Herman Demmink hit a bases-loaded infield single in the eighth inning. The hit extends his current hitting streak to 13 games. He is now 68-178 (.382) in his last 42 games, hitting safely in 37 of the 42. Demmink is now 5-for-7 with 11 RBI this season with the bases loaded.

-Only two of Clemson's six runs came as the result of a hit (one on Demmink's infield hit).

-College of Charleston entered tonight's game with 98 stolen bases this season, while Clemson recorded 19 stolen bases this season. In tonight's game, Clemson was 3-for-3 in stolen bases while the Cougars were 0-for-0.

-Cribb improves his record to 8-4 this season. Cribb has now won his last six decisions. He improves his NCAA regional record to 2-0 overall with one save. He picked up the win against Georgia and picked up a save against Birmingham-Southern last season in the Athens Regional. The complete game was Cribb's third of the season. Tonight's complete game shutout is the seventh in Clemson NCAA Tournament history. The last Tiger pitcher to record a complete game shutout in the NCAA Tournament was Ryan Mottl on May 26, 2000, a 4-0 win over Middle Tennessee.

-All six of Clemson's runs were scored by the bottom three hitters in its lineup (D'Alessio 2, Widmann 2, Casanova 2).

-Clemson improves its record to 15-0 all-time against College of Charleston.

-Clemson's record improves to 41-21 overall. Clemson is now 29-7 in NCAA Regional games played at home, including wins in 15 of its last 16 games

Clemson 6 (41-21)


Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB


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Herman Demmink 3b........  3  0  1  2   1  0  0  2   0


Brad Chalk cf............  4  0  1  2   1  0  2  0   0


Taylor Harbin 2b.........  4  0  0  1   0  0  2  5   2


Tyler Colvin lf..........  4  0  0  0   1  0  0  0   2


Kris Harvey dh...........  5  0  1  0   0  2  0  0   2


Travis Storrer rf........  4  0  1  0   0  0  1  0   0


Andy D'Alessio 1b........  3  2  2  0   2  1 14  0   0


Stan Widmann ss..........  3  2  1  0   1  0  3  6   2


Adrian Casanova c........  3  2  1  0   0  0  5  0   2


Josh Cribb p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0


Totals................... 33  6  8  5   6  3 27 15  10


Coll. of Charleston 0 (48-14)


Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB


------------------------------------------------------


Brett Gardner cf.........  4  0  0  0   0  0  4  0   2


Phillip Coker rf.........  4  0  1  0   0  2  1  0   1


Byron Barber lf..........  3  0  0  0   0  0  5  0   0


Chris Campbell 2b........  3  0  0  0   1  0  2  3   0


D.J. Wabick 1b...........  4  0  0  0   0  2 10  2   0


Jess Easterling 3b.......  3  0  0  0   0  1  0  1   2


Brett Anderson dh........  2  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0


 Shawn Williams ph/dh....  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0


Brian Hastings c.........  3  0  1  0   0  0  3  1   0


Oliver Marmol ss.........  3  0  0  0   0  0  1  3   0


Danny Gemma p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  1   0


 Josh McLaughlin p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0


 Danny Meszaros p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0


Totals................... 30  0  2  0   1  6 27 12   5


Score by Innings                    R  H  E


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Clemson............. 000 012 030 -  6  8  3


Coll. of Charleston. 000 000 000 -  0  2  2


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E - D'ALESSIO(7); WIDMANN 2(24); EASTERLING(9); 


MARMOL(17). DP - Clemson 1; Charleston 1. 


LOB - Clemson 10; Charleston 5. 2B - HARVEY(11);


D'ALESSIO(12). HBP - CASANOVA. SH - DEMMINK(8); 


STORRER(6); BARBER(13). SF - HARBIN(3). 


SB - DEMMINK(9); D'ALESSIO(1); WIDMANN(7).


Clemson                IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF


-----------------------------------------------


Josh Cribb..........  9.0  2  0  0  1  6 30 32


Coll. of Charleston    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF


-----------------------------------------------


Danny Gemma.........  4.0  5  1  0  3  0 16 20


Josh McLaughlin.....  3.0  2  4  2  3  1 11 15


Danny Meszaros......  2.0  1  1  1  0  2  6  8


Win - CRIBB (8-4).  Loss - GEMMA (7-4).  Save - None.


WP - McLAUGHLIN(9). HBP - by MESZAROS (CASANOVA). 


BK - GEMMA(1). PB - CASANOVA(8).


Umpires - HP: Steve Ricciarini  1B: Mark Ditsworth  


2B: Bill Davis  3B: Jay Asher  


Start: 7:00   Time: 2:18   Attendance: 5617


GEMMA faced 3 batters in the 5th.


McLAUGHLIN faced 2 batters in the 8th.

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