Baseball Wins Series Finale, 20-9

May 14, 2000

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – Sixth-ranked Clemson split two games Sunday with Virginia at UVa Baseball Field. Virginia won the first game 11-0, which was suspended in the sixth inning on Saturday and completed Sunday. The Tigers responded with 20 runs and 20 hits in the first five innings of the series finale to win 20-9.

Virginia recorded its second shutout of the season by blanking Clemson 11-0 in the second game of the series. Game in the bottom of the sixth inning with UVa at-bat holding a 7-0 lead. The game was postponed on Saturday due to inclement weather and resumed at 1:00 Sunday.

The Cavaliers scored runs in all but two innings (fifth and eighth) as Virginia posted the game’s first run and never looked back. Tim LaVigne (2-2, two RBI, run) hit a leadoff double down the left field line and scored to give UVa a 1-0 lead after Luis Giraldo (2-4, three RBI, run) hit a sacrifice fly to center field. The Cavaliers added two more runs in the second inning after Hunter Wyant (2-4, RBI, run) and Ryan Kalamaya (3-5, run) scored runs, before pulling ahead 4-0 on a RBI-single by Wyant that scored Giraldo in the bottom of the third inning.

Leading 4-0, UVa extended its lead to 6-0 on a RBI-single to center field by Jon Benick (1-3, three RBI, run) that scored David Stone (1-5, two runs) and Michael Floyd (3-4, three runs). After being held scoreless in the fifth inning, Virginia responded by adding three more runs in the sixth inning on a RBI-single by LaVigne and a two-run RBI-double by Giraldo to make it a 9-0 UVa lead.

The Cavaliers added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take a 11-0 lead after Stone and Floyd scored on consecutive bases loaded walks by Clemson pitcher Paul Harrelson.

UVa’s duo of pitchers Brandon Creswell and Dan Street held the Tigers scoreless in the game. Creswell earned his fifth win of the season and improved to 5-7 on the year after he pitched six innings and scattered four hits before Street stepped in to start the seventh inning and posted his first save of the season after pitching three innings with three strikeouts. CU’s Ryan Mottl (7-3) was dealt his third loss of the season after he allowed six runs (three earned) on nine hits through four innings of play.

Clemson came right back in the final game of the series and recorded an 11-run win of its own after the Tigers buried the Cavaliers by the score of 20-9. Clemson scored its 20 runs in the first five innings and led by as much as 16 runs at 20-4 in the top of the fifth inning before UVa cut into the margin.

The Tigers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after a RBI-double by Jeff Baker (2-5, two RBI, two runs), a two-run RBI-single by Mike Calitri (2-6, four RBI, run) and a RBI-double by Jarrod Schmidt (2-6, two RBI, two runs).

After Clemson scored two more runs in the top of the second inning on a sacrifice fly RBI by Patrick Boyd (1-4, three RBI, run) and a RBI-double by Khalil Greene (2-4, two RBI, two runs), Virginia cut Clemson’s 6-0 lead to 6-3. Wyant scored the Cavaliers first run on a bases loaded walk before Mark Rueffert (2-3, two RBI, run) scored on a balk by Clemson pitcher Mike Proto. LaVigne hit a RBI-single to left field to score Kalamaya to cut the Tigers lead in half.

However, Clemson went on to score three more runs in the third inning before erupting for nine more runs on eight hits in the fourth inning to take a 18-4 lead. After CU’s Baker started the fourth inning off with a solo home run to left center field, the Tigers scored eight more runs in the inning highlighted by Boyd’s two-run RBI-double, Ryan Riley’s (2-3, two RBI, two runs) two-run RBI-single and a two-run RBI-double by Calitri. Khalil Greene also extended his hitting streak to 14 games in the series finale.

Clemson scored two more runs in the top of the fifth inning to pull out to its largest lead of the game at 20-4, before UVa scored runs in the fifth (one run), seventh (one run) and ninth (three runs) innings to pull withing 20-9. But that would be as close as UVa would get as the Tigers held on for the 11-run victory.

Cavalier pitcher Will Parker (4-2) took the loss after the lefty allowed six runs on six hits through only 1.2 innings of play. The Tigers’ Matt Additon (7-2) posted his seventh win of the season after allowing only one run on one hit after replacing Proto. Proto started for the Tigers and was just the second lefty to start on the mound for the Tigers in 2000.

With the completion of the three-game series, Virginia and Clemson completed the regular season portion of their schedule. The Cavaliers ended the regular season with a record of 24-29-1 overall, 10-14 in the ACC. The Tigers finished their regular season with a mark of 42-14 overall, 17-7 in the conference. CU earned a 2-1 edge in the regular season series.

Virginia and Clemson will return to action on Wednesday, May 17th when the two school begin competition in the 27th Annual ACC Baseball Championships. The Cavaliers and Tigers will meet for the fourth consecutive time this season as they face one another in the fourth game of the tournament. Virginia, the #7 seed, will play Clemson, the #2 seed, at 5:00 p.m. at Knights Stadium in Fort Mill, SC.