Reba Dominates William & Mary 4-1

by Tommy Hood - Correspondent - Fri May 25 22:29:00 GMT-04:00 2001

CLEMSON - Steve Reba made believers of William & Mary in the first round of

the NCAA regional Friday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

"Coach told us to wait on his curves and try to wear him out," said William

& Mary shortstop Brendan Harris. "We didn't think he could do it for nine

innings, but he did."

Reba's threw his curve ball for strikes and pitched a complete game

four-hitter to lead Clemson to a 4-1 win over the Tribe in front of 3,617.

"That first pitch, you could see the spin and you didn't want to hit it,"

said Bradley. "But he would throw it for strikes."

Reba struck out eight and gave up his only run in the ninth. By that time,

the Tigers were in control.

Steve Reba won his 4th straight.

Michael Johnson hit his 15th homerun of the season in the second. He hit a

pitch from William & Mary's Whitt Farr over the right field fence. To give

Clemson a 1-0 lead.

Clemson added a run in the sixth. With two outs Khalil Greene hit a fly ball

to left. Left fielder Marshall Hubbard misjudged the ball and it glanced off

his glove and fell. Greene made it to second on the error.

After Johnson walked, designated hitter Jarrod Schmidt hit a ball past

short. Greene scored on the hit from second.

Clemson had runners in scoring position three other times against Farr

(9-6), who pitched 7 2/3 innings. In the eighth, Johnson and Schmidt singled

against Farr before both scored on a single by Chad Coder against reliever

Ben Shepard.

Riley thrown out at the plate.

"Chad's hit in the end was huge," said Clemson coach Jack Leggett. "I could

have been shaky going into the ninth up 2-0."

Reba (12-3), however, only needed Johnson's homerun to beat the Tribe. He

gave up just four hits. Reba could have easily taken a no-hitter into the

ninth. Stephen Booker reached on a single in the third - a ball that glanced

off Greene's glove at shortstop. Mike O'Kelly was given a single on a ball

that went under Greene's glove in the seventh.

"I just tried to do what I've done all year and throw any pitch at any

time," said Reba. "And then let the defense play behind me. It worked out

well."

Reba gave up his only run of the night in the ninth. Michael Brown led off

the inning with a double. He was driven in on a single by Brendan Harris.

"We're starting to get used to Reba," said Leggett. "We always play pretty

good defense behind him."

Clemson will face fourth-seeded Seton Hall today at 2 p.m. Seton Hall

knocked off first-seeded South Alabama, 7-2. South Alabama and William &

Mary play at 11 a.m. The winner of the 11 a.m. game and the loser of the 2

p.m. game play at 7 p.m.

Leggett said he will likely start Schmidt (6-3) against Seton Hall.

POST-GAME QUOTES

Winning Coach (Jack Leggett, Clemson)

"I thought it was a very well-played game by us pitching and defensively. I thought Steve Reba did a tremendous job pitching. We always play pretty good defense behind him. Today we played very well defensively and we got a few big hits along the way. Jarrod Schmidt's hit was a big one to put us up 2-0. Michael Johnson's homerun to break the ice and make it 1-0 was big."

"I felt good about how we played. I thought the bench was into it. The intensity was there and the focus on what we have to do in this tournament was there. I hope we'll be ready to play tomorrow against a very scrappy and tough Seton Hall team."

Losing Coach (Jim Farr, William and Mary)

"Steve Reba pitched a heck of a game here tonight. He kept off balance all night long and he really did a tremendous job. The first time through the lineup I told our guys to stay off the breaking ball s early in the count, but he was able to locate them for strikes and he forced us to swing at them. We were able to slow him down a little bit the second time through the lineup but he made some very good adjustments with his pitches. We are a very good fastball hitting team and his breaking ball was really difficult for our guys to hit tonight."

'We have to Clemson all the credit tonight. They played very well, and even though we were able to keep the game close with our pitching, they did what they had to do to win the game. We now just have to bounce back and get ready to play again tomorrow."

BOX SCORE

William & Mary 1 (35-19)

Player AB R H BI

BROWN, Michael rf 4 1 1 0

WALK, Mitch dh 3 0 0 0

JONES, Tim dh 1 0 0 0

HARRIS, Brendan ss 4 0 1 1

WAKEFIELD, Trey 3b 3 0 0 0

O'KELLY, Mike 1b 4 0 1 0

HUBBARD, Marshall lf 3 0 0 0

STEPHENSON, Ricky lf 0 0 0 0

McGUIRE, Matt 2b 3 0 0 0

LENTZ, John 2b 0 0 0 0

BOOKER, Stephen cf 3 0 1 0

KIRBY, Matt c 2 0 0 0

FARR, Whitt p 0 0 0 0

SHEPARD, Ben p 0 0 0 0

Totals...... 30 1 4 1

Clemson University 4 (39-20)

Player AB R H BI

Ryan Riley 2b 3 0 1 0

Kyle Frank rf 4 0 0 0

Jeff Baker 3b 3 0 0 0

Khalil Greene ss 4 1 0 0

Michael Johnson 1b 3 2 2 1

Jarrod Schmidt dh 3 1 2 1

Chad Coder cf 4 0 1 2

Zane Green lf 3 0 0 0

Steve Pyzik c 4 0 1 0

Steve Reba p 0 0 0 0

Totals...... 31 4 7 4

Score by Innings R H E

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

William & Mary...... 000 000 001 - 1 4 1

Clemson University.. 010 001 02X - 4 7 0

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

E - HUBBARD(2). DP - W&M 1. LOB - W&M 4; Clemson 8. 2B - BROWN(13). HR -

JOHNSON(15). HBP - RILEY; SCHMIDT. SH - KIRBY(15). SB - WAKEFIELD(7); RILEY

2(11);JOHNSON(10); SCHMIDT(5); CODER(18).

William & Mary IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO

FARR, Whitt L,9-6 7.2 6 4 3 2 5 0 0 2 0 29 33 9 8

SHEPARD, Ben 0.1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 1

Clemson University IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO

Steve Reba W,12-3 9.0 4 1 1 1 8 0 0 0 0 30 32 8 11

HB - FARR 2.

Strikeouts - BROWN; O'KELLY; HUBBARD; McGUIRE; BOOKER 2; KIRBY 2; CODER 2;

GREEN 3. Walks - WAKEFIELD; BAKER; JOHNSON; GREEN.

Umpires - Home:Mark Ditsworth 1st:Kevin Daugherty 2nd:Lee Prejean

3rd:Dick Flahrety Start: 7:38 Time: 2:11 Attendance: 3617

BONUS COVERAGE

By DAN SCOTT

CLEMSON — All week Steve Reba had been downplaying Friday's matchup against

William & Mary in the NCAA Regional opener, trying to approach the game as if

it were just another start. But down deep, Reba knew Friday was special.

Once on the mound, so was he.

Reba threw a complete-game four-hitter, leading No. 2 seed Clemson to a 4-1

victory over the third-seeded Tribe in the NCAA Regional opening round at

Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Baffling William & Mary hitters with a variety of

breaking balls and off-speed pitches, the junior right hander (12-3) struck

out eight and walked only one in his tidy, 110-pitch gem.

After the game, praise for his performance came from both dugouts.

Riley steals second.

"Steve Reba pitched a heck of a ball game. He was a breaking ball machine,"

said Tribe coach Jim Farr. "The first time through the lineup we went up

there with the idea we were going to lay off his breaking ball, but he kept

pumping it through there for strike after strike after strike. We tried to

make an adjustment the second and third time through the lineup...but he kept

making good pitches and located his breaking ball all night long."

"Reba did a tremendous job...but we're starting to get used to that," Clemson

coach Jack Leggett said. "He's been throwing strikes all year long and

throwing his breaking ball for strikes, and just doing a tremendous job."

Reba did his best to remain low key.

"I just tried to go out there and do what I've done all year," he said.

"Throw all my pitches...any pitch in any count, try to work ahead and get

some ground balls and let my defense play for me. It worked out well."

The importance of Reba's effort was magnified by what happened earlier in the

day, when No. 4 seed Seton Hall upset top-seeded South Alabama 7-2. Now, with

a win over the Pirates in today's winner's bracket game at 3 p.m., Clemson

would breeze into Sunday's championship game and need only to win one more

game to advance to the Super Regional for a third consecutive year.

However, despite Reba's dominance, the Tigers' ticket to the winner's bracket

wasn't stamped until late in Friday's game.

Tribe starter Whitt Farr (9-6), nearly matched Reba pitch for pitch for most

of the evening. His only early mistake was a fastball he left up in the zone

to Clemson first baseman Michael Johnson in the second inning. Johnson took

advantage of the miscue by depositing the pitch some 50 feet beyond fence in

right-center, directly over the 375-foot sign, for a 1-0 lead.

Frank with the nice running catch.

Clemson (39-20) held that slim margin until shoddy Tribe defense and a

clutch, two-out hit by Jarrod Schmidt gave the Tigers another run in the

sixth. With two outs, Khalil Greene hit a routine fly ball to left field that

Marshall Hubbard dropped, allowing Greene to reach second base. After a walk

to Michael Johnson, Schmidt followed with a ground single to left which

scored Greene for a 2-0 lead.

Clemson finally chased Farr in the eighth with back-to-back two-out singles

by Johnson and Schmidt. A pair of stolen bases put runners on second and

third against reliever Ben Shepard, and Chad Coder broke the game open by

greeting the new pitcher with a two-run single for a 4-0 advantage.

William & Mary (35-19) finally broke through against Reba in the ninth, when

Michael Brown opened the inning with a double and later scored on a hit by

Brendan Harris.

The tournament continues today with the Tribe facing South Alabama at 11 a.m.

Clemson meets Seton Hall at 3 p.m., and the loser of that game faces the

winner of today's first game at 7 p.m.

The championship round will be held Sunday.

NOTES: Clemson announced an attendance figure of 3,617...The Tigers played

without Casey Stone, who was fulfilling his one-game suspension in NCAA

Tournament play due to the incident at the end of last summer's College World

Series...The game took just 2:11 to complete...Schmidt is expected to start

today vs. Seton Hall.

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