Tigers Move Into Second Place Tie in ACC With 8-7 Victory over FSU

by Press Release - Sat May 06 22:52:36 GMT-04:00 2000

CLEMSON, SC - A four-run sixth inning lifted No. 8 Clemson to an 8-7 win over No. 2 Florida State Saturday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium and moved the Tigers into a second-place tie in the Atlantic Coast Conference with the Seminoles.

Florida State wasted no time putting up two runs to open the game. Shortstop Brett Groves knocked in Marshall McDougall and Ryan Barthelemy. But Clemson responded in the bottom half of the inning with one run when Jeff Baker hit into a double play that scored Casey Stone.

The Seminoles added to their lead with a three-run third inning. McDougall, Barthelemy and Karl Jernigan scored to give Florida State a 5-1 lead. Clemson right fielder Justin Singleton scored on a fielder's choice by Khalil Greene after being bunted over to third by Casey Stone's 10th sacrifice bunt of the season. Stone set a Clemson single-season record with the sacrifice. Singleton had reached base after a base hit and a fielding error put him on second.

The Tigers also added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings and exploded in the sixth for four runs. Henri Stanley and Singleton led off with walks courtesy of Seminole starter Mike Ziegler. When Stone laid down a bunt down the third-base line, Ziegler fielded the ball and threw to third for the potential first out but the errant throw sailed into left field scoring Stanley and Singleton.

Still with no outs, Brandon Boyd singled to advance Stone to third and then Greene doubled in Stone to give the Tigers an 8-5 advantage. After a walk by Baker, Mike Calitri struck out swinging and then Ryan Riley hit into a double play to end the inning.

Florida State added a pair of runs in the seventh inning when Bobby Spano doubled in Michael Futrell and Blair McCaleb.

Riley extending his hitting streak to 11 games with an RBI single that knocked in Greene in the fifth inning.

Matt Additon got the win for the Tigers after he replaced starter Jarrod Schmidt. Additon pitched four innings giving up four hits and two runs to improve to 6-2 on the year. It was his third win against the Seminoles vs. no losses. Ziegler was pegged with the loss and fell to 8-3 on the year. In all, the Tigers used six pitchers, but Steve Reba came into the game in the ninth and faced just one batter, getting Seminole lead-off hitter Chris Smith to strikeout. It was Reba's first career save.

Clemson improves to 38-12 while Florida State falls to 41-10. Both teams are 13-6 in the ACC.

The series between Clemson and Florida State will continue Sunday at 7:00 PM and will then conclude Monday night at 7:00 PM.