Mottl and Tigers Down FSU In ACC Tourney Second Round

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FORT MILL, SC -- Quite simply, Clemson has Florida State’s number.

The Tigers won their fourth consecutive game against the Seminoles, 8-4, behind a home run parade by Clemson batters and a complete-game performance by pitcher Ryan Mottl. Clemson remains undefeated in ACC Tournament action while the Seminoles find themselves relegated to the losers bracket.

Florida State struck first in the top of the first when Mottl walked Chris Smith to lead off the inning. John-Ford Griffin singled to center, with Smith advancing to second. Marshall McDougal’s line-drive single to right drove in Smith, giving the Seminoles an early 1-0 lead.

Clemson struck back in the second inning off a Ryan Riley single to right field. Brian Ellis then drilled Florida State starter Mike Ziegler’s fastball over the center field fence, driving in Riley and giving the Tigers a 2-1 advantage.

After a quiet third inning, the Tigers struck again in the fourth when leadoff batter Khalil Greene was hit with a pitch. Henri Stanley drove in Greene with a triple down the right field line and Clemson lead 3-1.

Mike Calitri’s homer to right in the fifth pushed the Tiger lead to 4-1, but the Seminoles struck back quickly in the top of the sixth. After an infield single by Smith, Mottl walked Griffin, setting the stage for Marshall McDougal’s home run blast over the right field fence. The momentum quickly shifted back to the Seminole dugout and the game was knotted at 4-4.

Florida State’s celebration was short-lived, however, when Greene mashed a fastball over the left field wall and out of the park, giving the Tigers the lead once more, 5-4.

The Clemson offense continued to produce in the seventh inning when Bradley LeCroy hit a one-out double into the corner in left field. Calitri’s line-drive single to left moved LeCroy to third. Justin Singleton walked to load the bases. After Casey Stone struck out swinging, Ziegler walked Patrick Boyd, plating LeCroy and pushing the margin to 6-4.

The Tigers effectively sealed the victory in the bottom of the eighth when pinch-hitter Jeff Baker led off with a double to right. Ryan Riley then singled to right, pushing Baker to third with no outs. After Ellis and LeCroy went down on strikes, Florida State reliever Chris Whidden walked Calitri, loading the bases with two outs. Whidden then gave up another base on balls to Justin Singleton and Baker scored, giving the Tigers a 7-4 edge. Eric Roman was brought in to replace Whidden but didn’t fare much better, giving up a single to Stone that brought home Riley. Boyd was thrown out at home but the damage had been done and the Tigers led 8-4.

Clemson next faces #1-seed Georgia Tech Friday at 7:30.

QUOTES:

Clemson Head Coach Jack Leggett:

"I thought we did a few things really well tonight. Number-one, Ryan Mottl gave us a great pitching performance and worked really hard. I thought he was very tough in all situations. He threw strikes. He made just one bad pitch on the evening to (Marshall) McDougall. Other than that he did a good job before and after that inning."

"Offensively I felt like we put pressure on them all night. We scored all but two of the innings. That helped us relieve the pressure. I think it was big when they tied it up at 4-4 and we came right back with Khalil's (Greene) homer. That was awful big to loosen us up and get us going again."

Florida State Head Coach Mike Martin:

"I tell you what. You have to give credit to Ryan Mottl. He just dominated the ball game. He just went out there and said I'm going to take charge of this thing. You have to take your hat off to him because he owned us."

On Clemson Being Motivated To Play Florida State:

"When you've been whipped three in a row, believe me we were up for them too. You just have to give them credit."

BOXSCORE

                                                        Florida State vs Clemson


                                          May 18, 2000 at Fort Mill, SC (Knights Stadium)


Florida State 4 (44-14)                                             Clemson 8 (44-14)


Name (Pos)                 AB  R  H RBI  BB SO PO  A LOB   Avg      Name (Pos)                 AB  R  H RBI  BB SO PO  A LOB   Avg


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


Smith, Chris rf...........  3  2  1  0    1  0  0  1   1            Stone, Casey lf...........  5  0  2  1    0  1  1  0   0      


Griffin, John-Ford dh.....  3  1  1  0    1  1  0  0   0            Boyd, Patrick cf..........  3  0  0  1    1  3  1  0   0      


McDougall, Marshall 2b....  4  1  2  4    0  0  0  3   1            Greene, Khalil 3b.........  3  2  1  1    0  0  1  2   3      


Barthelemy, Ryan 1b.......  4  0  1  0    0  2  5  0   0            Stanley, Henri dh.........  3  0  1  1    0  1  0  0   0      


Jernigan, Karl cf.........  4  0  0  0    0  2  0  1   2             Baker, Jeff ph............ 1  0  1  0    0  0  0  0   0      


Groves, Brett ss..........  4  0  0  0    0  2  3  0   0             Holstad, Brian pr/dh...... 0  1  0  0    0  0  0  0   0      


Boyd, Scott 3b............  3  0  0  0    1  1  0  0   0            Riley, Ryan 2b............  4  2  2  0    0  0  3  3   0      


Futrell, Michael lf.......  3  0  0  0    0  1  0  0   0            Ellis, Brian c............  4  1  1  2    0  3 10  0   0      


McCaleb, Blair c..........  3  0  1  0    0  1 15  1   0            LeCroy, Bradley ss........  4  1  2  0    0  2  0  4   0      


Ziegler, Mike p...........  0  0  0  0    0  0  1  3   0            Calitri, Mike 1b..........  3  1  2  1    1  1 10  1   0      


 Ginn, Chris p............. 0  0  0  0    0  0  0  0   0            Singleton, Justin rf......  2  0  0  1    2  1  1  0   0      


 Whidden, Chris p.......... 0  0  0  0    0  0  0  0   0            Mottl, Ryan p.............  0  0  0  0    0  0  0  1   0      


 Roman, Eric p............. 0  0  0  0    0  0  0  0   0             


Totals.................... 31  4  6  4    3 10 24  9   4            Totals.................... 32  8 12  8    4 12 27 11   5 


Score by innings:                      R  H  E


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


Florida State         100 003 000   -  4  6  1


Clemson               020 111 12    -  8 12  0


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


E - McCALEB(8). 


DP - Florida St. 2, Clemson 1. LOB - Florida St. 4, Clemson 5. 


2B - BAKER(15), LeCROY(6). 3B - STANLEY(3). 


HR - McDOUGALL(12), GREENE(5), ELLIS(1), CALITRI(5). 


SB - BARTHELEMY(3), STONE(21), RILEY(10). CS - RILEY(7). 


SH - FUTRELL(3). 


Florida State          IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  AB BF   ERA  NP      Clemson                IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  AB BF   ERA  NP


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


Ziegler, Mike.......  6.2   9   6   6   2  10  26 29         -      Mottl, Ryan.........  9.0   6   4   4   3  10  31 35         -


Ginn, Chris.........  0.2   2   2   2   0   1   4  4         -       


Whidden, Chris......  0.1   0   0   0   2   1   1  3         -       


Roman, Eric.........  0.1   1   0   0   0   0   1  1         -       


Win - MOTTL 8-3.  Loss - ZIEGLER 8-4.  Save - None.


HBP - by ZIEGLER (GREENE). 


Umpires - Home:Randy Dulin  1st:Bryant Woodall  2nd:Mike Kiernan  3rd:Bruce Ravan  


Start: 8:39   Time: 2:51   Attendance: 4198


Game Notes:


Khalil Greene extended his hitting streak to 16 games.                     


Ryan Mottl's 10 strikeouts is the most by a Tiger in 2000. 

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