CLEMSON BASEBALL

Tigers open baseball season with easy 11-0 victory over Miami (OH)
Kyle Parker hit a mammoth 3-run homer for the Tigers in the 7th. (Photos: fotoman)

Tigers open baseball season with easy 11-0 victory over Miami (OH)


by - Senior Writer -

CLEMSON – Will Lamb took advantage of his spot start, Casey Harman looked the part of a weekend starter and Kyle Parker launched a mammoth home run as the 15th-ranked Clemson Tigers knocked off Miami (OH) 11-0 in the opening game of the 2010 baseball season at Doug Kingsmore Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Lamb made the start at first base in place of Richie Shaffer, who took a throw ball off of his eye in practice earlier this week, and went 4-for-4 with two runs scored and three driven in, missing hitting for the cycle by only a triple.

Harman went five innings, allowing only one hit while striking out three and walking one. He threw 75 pitches and tossed 51 strikes in a good first outing. Overall, Tiger pitchers allowed just two hits in notching the shutout over the Red Hawks.

“It was a good start for us,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said. “We played good defense, and Casey was around the strike zone. We got that one run in the first inning, just to break the ice, got quiet in the middle of the game, and then came on strong at the end.”

The Tigers got off to a good start, posting a run in the season’s inaugural inning when leadoff hitter Chris Epps singled to right, moved to second on a grounder, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Jeff Schaus, giving Clemson a 1-0 lead.

Clemson then chased Miami starter Tyler Melling in the fifth, getting two runs in an inning that started with a double by Lamb. Lamb went to third on a liner to center by Jason Stolz, and following a walk to Epps, Mike Freeman singled to score Lamb. Epps went to third on the hit, and scored the second run of the inning on an RBI groundout by Schaus.

In the bottom of the seventh, Lamb continued his hot hitting by drilling his first career home run into deep right center field for a 4-0 Clemson lead. Later in the inning, Shaffer pinch hit for Epps, and after Schaus was hit by a pitch, Kyle Parker smoked a breaking pitch deep into the new left field student section for a 7-0 Clemson lead. Parker’s home run cleared the portal by six or seven rows in the section.

Parker, who singled in his first at-bat, said it was nice to get off to a good start.

“I was just trying to hit the ball,” Parker said of his home run. “I saw two fastballs way out of zone, and once I get ahead 2-0, I wanted something to hit. I was looking for a fastball, and he threw it. But the biggest thing for me was getting a hit in that first at bat. I got one up the middle, and just started feeling comfortable. Now I just have to keep working hard and build on this.”

The runs continued in the eighth for the Tigers, with Phil Pohl doubling to right center to start the frame. Miller followed that with a double that Red Hawk center fielder Ryan Curl lost in the lights, with Pohl advancing to third on the play. Lamb then smoked a single to center to score both runners for a 9-0 Clemson advantage. The Tigers added two more runs to finish off the scoring.

Lamb said he was just glad to produce when given the chance.

“Coach told me yesterday that I would start and I was ready for it,” Lamb said. “I just wanted to make sure I had all of the bases covered, and I came in today and had a good BP [batting practice] and felt like I was gonna have a good day. I had fun with. I knew it was gone [his homer] when I hit it, and that’s a relief to get that off my back.”

Leggett said Lamb is an example of the depth he has with his position players.

“We have got some depth, and we’ve got some players that can play,” Leggett said. “We are going to utilize these guys the best we can. Will Lamb stepped up, and as good as he was, he might be in a pitching role tomorrow. That is the kind of team hopefully we will have.”

The Tigers play Michigan St. on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Greenville’s Fluor Field.


Miami (OH) 0 (0-1)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

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

Adam Eaton rf............ 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0

Jon Edgington 2b......... 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 0

Bryce Redeker lf......... 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0

Zak Hatfield dh.......... 2 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0

Adam Weisenburger c...... 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0

Kyle Weldon 1b........... 3 0 0 0 0 0 11 0 1

Brad Gschwind ss......... 3 0 1 0 0 0 3 3 0

Cory Klenke 3b........... 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 2

Ryan Curl cf............. 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 0

Tyler Melling p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Matt Rosinski p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Sam Dawes p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Joe Neff p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Chris Gutschenritter p.. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Totals................... 29 0 2 0 1 5 24 13 3

Clemson 11 (1-0)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

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

Chris Epps dh............ 2 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 2

Richie Shaffer ph/dh.... 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0

Mike Freeman 2b.......... 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0

Kevin Caughman ph/2b.... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Jeff Schaus lf........... 3 1 1 3 0 0 3 0 0

Kyle Parker rf........... 5 1 2 3 0 1 4 0 2

Wilson Boyd cf........... 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1

Addison Johnson ph/cf... 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0

John Nester c............ 3 0 1 0 0 0 5 0 0

Phil Pohl c............. 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Spencer Kieboom c....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Brad Miller ss........... 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 5 0

Will Lamb 1b............. 4 3 4 3 0 0 7 1 0

Dominic Leone p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Jason Stolz 3b........... 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0

John Hinson ph/3b....... 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

Casey Harman p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0

Justin Sarratt p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Tomas Cruz p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Totals................... 35 11 13 10 3 2 27 9 5

Score by Innings R H E

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

Miami (OH).......... 000 000 000 - 0 2 1

Clemson............. 100 020 44X - 11 13 0

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

E - CURL(1). DP - Miami 1. LOB - Miami 3; Clemson 5. 2B - POHL(1);

MILLER(1); LAMB(1). HR - PARKER(1); LAMB(1). HBP - SCHAUS. SF - SCHAUS(1).

SB - EPPS 2(2).

Miami (OH) IP H R ER BB SO AB BF

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

Tyler Melling....... 4.2 6 3 3 1 1 19 21

Matt Rosinski....... 1.1 1 1 1 0 0 5 5

Sam Dawes........... 1.0 2 3 3 0 1 5 6

Joe Neff............ 0.0 3 4 4 2 0 3 5

Chris Gutschenritter 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 3 3

Clemson IP H R ER BB SO AB BF

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

Casey Harman........ 5.0 1 0 0 1 3 16 17

Justin Sarratt...... 2.1 1 0 0 0 2 8 8

Tomas Cruz.......... 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 2 2

Dominic Leone....... 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3

Win - HARMAN (1-0). Loss - MELLING (0-1). Save - None.

WP - DAWES(1). HBP - by DAWES (SCHAUS).

Umpires - HP: Jason Bradley 1B: Randy Watkins 3B: Mike Mazzarisi

Start: 4:12 PM Time: 2:36 Attendance: 5915

ROSINSKI faced 1 batter in the 7th.

NEFF faced 5 batters in the 8th.

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