Clemson Downs Virginia Tech 11-2

by Press Release - Fri Apr 28 22:12:30 GMT-04:00 2006

Clemson, SC-Josh Cribb won his eighth straight decision, and Tanner Leggett and Travis Storrer both hit home runs to lead Clemson to an

11-2 victory over Virginia Tech in ACC baseball action Friday night at Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers, ranked as high as ninth in the nation in one poll, improved to 31-13 overall and 13-6 in the ACC, while Virginia Tech fell to 17-25 overall, 3-19 in the ACC.

The same two teams will play Saturday night at Doug Kingsmore

Stadium in a game that will start at 7:00 PM. The series will

conclude Sunday afternoon at 1:00 PM.

Cribb pitched 7 2/3 innings and allowed just four hits and two runs. He struck out seven and walked one in running his record

to 8-0 for the season. He matched his victory total of the entire

2005 season (8-5) and now has a 21-7 record for his career. He is

now 7-0 at home this season and has won seven consecutive decisions at Kingsmore Stadium over two seasons.

Cribb allowed a single in the first, a home run in the second and two singles in the eighth in a masterful performance against Virginia Tech for the second straight year. Last year he shut out the Hokies on a six-hitter. He allowed just one base runner between the third and seventh innings.

Cribb received outstanding support from the Clemson offense as the Tigers had 14 hits and reached double figures in runs scored for the second consecutive game. It marks the first time this year Clemson has scored in double figures in consecutive victories. All nine of Clemson's starters had at least one hit by the fifth inning.

Clemson took a 7-1 lead after three innings and coasted from there.

The big inning was a five-run second when the Tigers had five hits.

Marquez Smith opened the inning with a single and moved to second on a single by Andy D'Alessio, who broke out of a slump with a pair of hits and two RBIs for the game. Smith then scored Clemson's first run of the inning on a single by shortstop Stan Widmann.

Two outs later, D'Alessio scored on a single by Brad Chalk and Widmann came across when Chalk's hit was misplayed by right fielder Jose Cueto. Storrer then completed the uprising with a two-run homer to right center that gave Clemson a 7-1 lead. It was Storrer's eighth home run of the season, his sixth in the last eight games. His eight home runs are a career high for a season for the senior from Mount Vernon, WA.

Clemson added three runs in the fifth inning with the key hit a double by D'Alessio. The final run of the contest for the Tigers came in the seventh when Leggett hit his first career home run to left field off reliever Josh Canova. Leggett is a senior and the son of Clemson Head Coach Jack Leggett, who gave the Tiger infielder an extra pat on the back as he rounded third base during his home run trot.

Virginia Tech was led by Bryan Thomas, who homered to left off of Cribb in the second inning. Thomas also had a single and joined Nate Parks as the only Virginia Tech batters with a pair of hits in the contest. Greg Fryman took the loss for Virginia Tech and saw his record fall to 3-6.