Baseball Downs NC State 17-6

April 18, 1998

CLEMSON, SC–Seventh rankedClemson strengthened its hold on second place in the ACC with a 17-6 victory over 24th ranked N C State Saturday night at Tiger Field. The Tigers improved to 37-7 overall, 10-4 in the ACC, while State fell to 29-15 overall, 9-6 in the ACC. The same two teams meet in the final game of the series Sunday at 2:00 PM.

Matt White earned the victory for the Tigers and raised his record to 3-2. It did not appear that he would go very far as State scored four runs in the first inning off five hits. But, White settled down and allowed just two more runs. Overall, White allowed eight hits and five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. Donovan Harrison went the final 3 2/3 in relief. He did not allow a run and gave up just one hit.

Clemson scored four in the first inning also and two in the third. The Tigers did not put the game out of reach until a nine-run sixth inning. Clemson had seven hits in the game and also benefitted by three errors. A key hit in the inning was a two-run homer by Matt Padgett, who increased his hitting streak to 13 games.

Brian Ellis led the Tigers at the plate with two hits and five RBIs. He reached base five times for the second straight game and now has seven walks in the last two games as Clemson’s leadoff hitter. Justin Singleton, who had five RBIs in Clemson’s 11-10 win on Friday night, had four more on Saturday. Peter Nystrom and Doug Roper each had two hits, meaning Clemson’s last three players in the order had at least two hits.

NC State was led by Noel Manley, who had a 3-3 game at the plate. Todd DeMakes had a 2-4 game. State had 10 hits offensively, but had five errors defensively.

Dustin Baker was the starter and loser for NC State. He went 4 2/3 innings and gave up eight hits and eight runs. He also walked eight. The Tigers had 14 free passes from State pitchers altogether.

Clemson improved to 11-0 this year in night games, 4-0 in games against USA Tody Top 25 teams.