Tiger Baseball Escapes With Win In Slugfest

February 26, 1999

Las Vegas, NV–Clemson defeated 24th ranked Washington 13-12 in the first of five games at the UNLV/Desert Classic on Thursday afternoon. Clemson, ranked 12th by Baseball America, improves to 4-0 while Washington falls to 5-3.

Matt Additon (2-0) picked up the win in relief and Thomas Boozer earned his first career save. Daniel John suffered the loss, falling to 1-1.

Clemson got on the board in the first when Henri Stanley doubled to right and scored when third baseman Kevin Ticen could not field a Kurt Bultmann line-drive (scored an error).

Washington tied the game in the second inning when Ryan Mottl’s breaking ball bounced in the dirt then wound up in home plate umpire John Cortez’s pocket. Pete Orgill scored from third base on the wild pitch according to rule 6-4d.

After Clemson took the lead in the top of the third on a Jason Harris opposite field RBI single, the Huskies took a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the third. Dominic Woody led off with his sixth homer of the season, an opposite-field line-drive shot. Washington added two more runs on Matt Hollod’s double, the first of his career, down the left field line. Matt Additon replaced Mottl after Hollod’s double and retired the next two batters with runners on second and third to the end the threat.

Kyle Frank cut the lead in half in the fourth inning on a triple off the center field wall, plating Doug Roper. It was Frank’s first hit as a Tiger.

Washington added two runs in the fifth inning on another RBI double by Hollod and an RBI single up the middle by Greg Brooks.

Clemson responded in the sixth inning with seven runs to take a 10-6 lead. The inning was highlighted by Bultmann’s grand slam.

Washington would cut away at the lead with two runs in the bottom of the sixth, but Bultmann hit another home run in the top of the seventh to give the Tigers a 13-8 advantage. This time Bultmann hit a 1-2 curve ball over the left field fence for a three run round tripper.

The Huskies plated three runs in the eighth inning and had the go-ahead run at the plate. But left fielder Casey Stone threw out Hollod who was trying to score from second base on a single.

Washington threatened again in the ninth inning with the bases loaded and no outs, but Boozer got Orgill to ground into a double play and Woods to pop up to the catcher to end the game.

The Tigers will play two games on Friday, Feb. 26. The first will be against Creighton (6-2) at 4:30 p.m. (EST) and the second against host UNLV at 8 p.m. (EST). Fans can listen to the Clemson-UNLV game on the UNLV Radio Network broadcast on the internet at www.radiovegas.com.