Ninth-Inning Heroics Give Tigers 5-4 Win Over No. 2 Florida St. |
CLEMSON, SC -- Clemson leadoff hitter Casey Stone singled to score Mike Calitri in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the eighth-ranked Tigers a 5-4 win over No. 2 Florida State Saturday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
Calitri led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, breaking a 2-for-21 slump. Brian Holstad pinch-ran for Calitri and advanced to second on a "head's up" advancement on a wild pitch. Justin Singleton singled off Mike DiBlasi to send Calitri to third with no outs. It was just his fourth at bat against a lefty all season and his first hit against a Southpaw. Stone's line-drive single to right field then scored Holstad for the one-run win. It was Clemson's third straight win, all by one runs. Clemson downed #5 Georgia Tech 13-12 last Sunday and the Seminoles 8-7 on Saturday. Clemson improved to 7-2 in one-run games. The victory clinched the series against Florida State and moved Clemson alone into second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Clemson is a game-and-a-half behind first place Georgia Tech, who is 16-5 in conference play. The Tigers struck first with four runs in the second inning. Brian Ellis walked between outs to start the inning, but that was enough to start the Clemson scoring. Singleton singled and then Stone knocked in Ellis. Patrick Boyd scored Singleton on a single. Boyd stole second and then Khalil Greene singled in both Stone and Boyd. Jeff Baker popped up to centerfield to end the inning with the Tigers leading 4-0. Greene entered the game for Clemson batting 14-of-28 in the last six games. He finished 3 for 3 Sunday vs. the Seminoles. Chris Smith led off the third inning for the Seminoles with a double and then scored on another double by John-Ford Griffin. Florida State scored another pair of runs in the fifth on a Karl Jernigan single. He scored Griffin and Marshall McDougall. After Clemson starter Ryan Mottl was helped by three consecutive outs in the sixth and another to start the seventh, he walked McDougall. Steve Reba, who got the save in game one Saturday night after striking out the only batter he faced in the ninth, replaced Mottl on the mound. McDougall stole second and then advanced to third after Reba got Ryan Barthelemy to ground out to second, but a wild pitch to Jernigan scored McDougall to even the score 4-4. Reba was able to set up the Tigers' ninth inning by sitting down six consecutive batters in the eighth and ninth. Reba improved to 2-0 on the year. Chris Whidden, who gave up the Calitri single in the ninth, was tagged with the loss and lowered his record to 1-2. Clemson improves to 39-12 and 14-6 in the ACC while Florida State falls to 41-11 and 13-7 in conference action. The Tigers beat the Seminoles 8-7 in the series opener Saturday night. The series between Clemson and Florida State concludes Monday night at 7:00 PM. CLEMSON BASEBALL NOTES
Tigers up to 39-12 on the season after downing #2 Florida State twice
UPCOMING GAMES
Monday, May 8
Florida State at Clemson 7:00 PM
Thursday, May 11
Clemson at Liberty 4:00 PM
Saturday, May 13
Clemson at Virginia (DH) 12:00 PM
Sunday, May 14
Clemson at Virginia 1:00 PM
LAST WEEK'S RESULTS (2-0)
Saturday, May 6
Florida State at Clemson W, 8-7
Sunday, May 7
Florida State at Clemson W, 5-4
Tigers Up 2-0 on Second-Ranked Noles, Hold 12-2 Lead at Clemson Since 1992
Eighth-ranked Clemson won two one-run games over #2 Florida State in the first two games of the three-game series at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Clemson won 8-7 in game one and 5-4 in game two. Clemson upped its record against the Seminoles to 12-2 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium since Florida State joined the ACC in 1992. Clemson is also 22-17 overall against the Seminoles over that span.
In game one, Clemson rallied from a 5-1 deficit to defeat Florida State 8-7. Florida State left 12 runners on base, including two in the ninth inning when Steve Reba struck out the only batter he faced, Chris Smith, to end the game, earning his first career save in the process. In the at bat before, Pichi Balet hit what appeared to be a single to right to load the bases, but Michael Futrell was thrown out at third for the second out when he lost track of the ball in the outfield. Matt Additon picked up the win by allowing four hits and two runs in 4.0 innings in relief of starter Jarrod Schmidt. Additon improved to 3-0 all-time against the Seminoles. Clemson's big inning was the sixth, where the Tigers plated four runs. A throwing error by starter Mike Ziegler gave Clemson a 6-5 lead and Khalil Greene later hit a two-run double to give Clemson an 8-5 lead. Greene led the Tigers with three hits and three RBIs. Clemson used six pitchers, while Florida State threw out four.
In game two, Clemson squandered a 4-0 lead, but Casey Stone's ninth-inning single to right field gave the Tigers a 5-4 win. Stone went 3-for-5 with two RBIs, while Khalil Greene went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and a steal. Steve Reba retired all eight batters he faced over 2.2 innings to earn his second win. Clemson scored four runs in the second. Greene's two-run single highlighted the scoring. Florida State scored two runs in the fifth inning on Karl Jernigan's two-run single. The Seminoles tied the score in the seventh on Reba's wild pitch. Clemson missed an opportunity in the fifth inning to blow the game open, as it had the bases loaded with no outs, but was unable to score a run. Clemson won the game in the ninth, however, when Mike Calitri broke a 2-for-21 with a solid single to left, followed by Justin Singleton's line-drive single to center off reliever Mike DiBlasi. It was just Singleton's fourth at bat against a lefty all season. Stone then followed with the game winner on the first pitch.
Game three will be Monday beginning at 7:00 PM. The game will be televised on College Sports Southeast (television) and the Clemson Sports Network.
Noteworthy
* Khalil Greene is 17-for-31 (.548) with 11 RBIs in his last seven games. He is hitting a team-best .361 overall and has a current nine-game hitting streak. In the two games against #2 Florida State, he is 6-for-8 with five RBIs. He is also hitting a team-best .425 in ACC play.
* Casey Stone has nine hits in his last three games.
* Steve Reba has set down all nine batters he has faced against the Seminoles over two games. He is 1-0 with a save in those two games.
* Clemson is hitting .343 against Florida State through two games, while Florida State is hitting .250.
* Clemson is 7-2 in one-run games and 7-2 in two-run games this year.
* Clemson is 27-1 when it totals 10 hits or more in a game.
* Clemson is 31-5 at home this season.
* Nick Glaser's 12 saves is second most in a season in Tiger history. The record is 14 held by Scott Winchester (1995).
* Clemson has one of the nation's best fielding percentages of .970.
* Tiger pitchers are holding opponents to a .200 batting average with two outs.
* Mike Calitri is 5-for-5 with the bases loaded this season.
* Scott Berney started the season by not allowing a run in his first 32.2 innings pitched, which is a Clemson record.
Tigers Move Into Second Place in ACC Standings
Clemson's 14-6 conference record is good for second place in the conference. The Tigers are 1.5 games out of first place Georgia Tech, who is 16-5 in league play. Florida State is third at 13-7. The Tigers have finished in the top three in the standings for 27 of the last 29 seasons. Since 1957, the season before Bill Wilhelm's first of 36 seasons at Clemson, the Tigers have not finished worse than fifth in the ACC.
ACC Overall
Team W-L Pct GB W-L-T Pct
1. Georgia Tech 16-5 .762 ---- 38-12 .760
2. CLEMSON 14-6 .700 1.5 39-12 .765
3. Florida State 13-7 .650 2.5 41-11 .788
4. Wake Forest 13-8 .619 3.0 34-14-1 .704
5. North Carolina 11-10 .524 5.0 42-11 .792
6. Virginia 9-12 .429 7.0 23-27-1 .461
7. N.C. State 10-14 .417 7.5 28-26 .519
8. Maryland 5-16 .238 11.0 22-30 .423
9. Duke 4-17 .190 12.0 15-36 .294
Note: Standings through games of Sunday, May 7
Injury Update
* Michael Johnson broke his left hand when he was hit by a pitch in the first inning against Western Carolina on April 26. X-rays taken on May 1 confirmed the fracture. He will be out of action until mid-to-late May.
On the Personal Side...
* Khalil Greene is a die-hard professional wrestling fan. His favorite wrestler is Ric Flair. Both he and Flair have blonde hair.
* Clemson has two starting infielders whose hometowns are about as far away from each as possible in the continental United States. Third-baseman Khalil Greene is from Key West, FL and second-baseman Ryan Riley is from Seattle, WA. If you were to drive from the driveways of their respective homes, it would take 67.5 hours to drive and 3,531 miles.
* Freshmen Jarrod Schmidt and Chad Bendinelli were teammates at Lassiter High in Marietta, GA. They also lived next door to each other since the age of one.
* Jeff Baker and Ryan Hub have both lived in numerous countries all over the world. They are both sons of fathers in the military. Baker was born in Germany and also lived in United Arab Emerites. Hub lived in South Korea, Kuwait, and was born in England. Hub has also traveled all over the world in his travels.
* Brian Ellis and Brian Holstad will earn their degrees in May. Ellis majored in Agriculture Economics and Holstad majored in mechanical engineering. The two are also the last holdovers from Clemson's last College World Series appearance in 1996. Both red-shirted that season.
* Justin Singleton is the son of 15-year Major Leaguer Ken Singleton. Ken works with the MSG Network and provides commentary for the Yankees.
* Nick Glaser and Ryan Riley both transfered to Clemson before the season from Edmonds Community College in Washington. Both Glaser and Riley have played prominent roles in the 2000 season. Their head coach at Edmonds is first-year Tiger assistant coach Hank King.
* Bradley LeCroy is no relation to former Tiger star Matthew LeCroy.
* Steve Reba's father, Michael, has not missed a Clemson baseball game for the past two seasons. He rents an apartment in Clemson and does his work via computer. He is a bond salesman. Michael has not missed one of Steve's games since his early childhood days as well.
* Ryan Mottl's father, Steve, is an active participant on Clemson message boards on the internet. "Clemfan" keeps many other Tiger fans up-to-date on news and notes about Clemson baseball with his emails.
* Casey Stone is engaged to marry his fiance', Kimberly Stewart, in December. Stewart is a senior PRTM major at Clemson.
* Paul Harrelson goes by "Woody" and "Hawk" by teammates and coaches.
* North Carolina assistant football coach and former Clemson quarterback Mike O'Cain is the godfather of Thomas Boozer.
* Pitching Coach Kevin O'Sullivan was an all-conference catcher at Virginia in the early 1990s.
* Head Coach Jack Leggett broke his neck in December in a skiing accident while vacationing in Colorado. He hit a depression in the snow and lost his balance, causing him to land awkardly. He came within inches of being paralyzed. Miraculously, he did not miss any practices or games. He did have to wear a neck brace for the first few weeks of the season.
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