2000 Baseball Team Awards Announced

Sept. 18, 2000

CLEMSON, S.C. – Clemson third baseman Khalil Green was named the baseball team MVP for the 2000 season, head baseball coach Jack Leggett announced Monday, the day before the 2001 team starts fall practice.

Greene, a second-team All-ACC third baseman hit .364 in starting all 69 games at third base. He had three triples, five home runs and 64 RBI along with a .470 on-base percentage. Greene hit .421 with a .530 on-base percentage and a .621 slugging percentage against regular-season ACC competition and made a significant improvement in the field, committing only 14 errors at third base.

The team also awarded the Tiger Leadership and Stowe Pitching awards.

Brian Holstad was given the Tiger Leadership Award. Holstad was a fifth-year player who was one of seven team captains. He hit 200 in 37 games, including seven starts at second base, and led the team with 30 appearances off the bench. Holstad, who was typically used as a senior as a late-inning defensive replacement and pinch-runner, had a run-scoring single against Virginia in the ACC Tournament and a pinch-hit, run-scoring single against Middle Tennessee State in the Clemson Regional. He was the winner among all fielders in Clemson’s “Omaha Challenge,” the team’s preseason conditioning test.

Ryan Mottl was awarded the Stowe Pitching Award. Mottl, who was another one of the team’s seven captains, had a 10-4 record in 19 starts and two relief appearances. He allowed 103 hits, 28 walks, three home runs and a .259 opponent batting average. He struck out 81 batters and had a 3.70 ERA. Named to the ACC All-Tournament team for his complete game win over #4 Florida State and to the NCAA All-Regional team at Clemson for his shutout performance against Middle Tennessee State. Mottl was drafted in the sixth round by the Cincinnati Reds.

The 2000 team made its 14th-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and became Leggett’s third Clemson team to advance to the College World Series. The Tigers finished with a 51-18 record, their 15th-straight 40-win season, to rank as high as fifth in the nation.

The 2001 team begins fall practice Tuesday at 2:30 PM at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The team will work out Tuesday through Sunday for the next four weeks: 2:30-5:30 PM weekdays and approximately 1:30-4:30 PM on weekends.