Baseball Falls to Clemson, 9-7

April 3, 1998

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Clemson scored a pair of unearned runs in the top ofthe ninth inning to post a 9-7 victory over the University of Virginiabaseball team.

The loss spoiled a landmark day for Cavalier senior outfielder E.J. Anderson (Mechanicsville, Va.), who broke the all-time Uva home run record with a three-run blast in the bottom of the seventh inning. Anderson’s home run to right center, his seventh of the season and the 34thof his career, tied up the game at 7-7. Virginia falls to 17-12-1 overall and 3-9 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, while Clemson improves to 30-4 and 6-1 in the ACC.

With the score tied at 7-7 after eight innings, Clemson’s Peter Nystromreached on an error to lead off the top of the ninth. After JustinSingleton drew a walk to give the Tigers runners of first and second, DerekBorgert reached on an error which allowed both runners to score and giveClemson a 9-7 lead. The Tigers could not score any more runs in the inning,but Virginia went down in order in the ninth to end the game.

Clemson’s offensive attack was led by Patrick Boyd, who went 4-for-6 with adouble and two RBI. In addition, both Nystrom and Borgert hit solo homeruns for the Tigers. UVa sophomore shortstop Tim LaVigne (Virginia Beach,Va.) led all players with three hits, as he went 3-for-4 with a triple.Sophomore catcher Josh Bowling (Springfield, Va.) added a solo homer forthe Cavaliers.

The Tigers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after two innings, with one runin the first and three in the second. Kurt Bultmann hit an RBI sacrificefly in the first, while both Singleton and Boyd had RBI singles in thesecond. Virginia scored its first run in the third, when LaVigne tripledand scored on an RBI groundout by freshman first baseman Hunter Wyant(White Hall, Va.). Clemson added a run in the top of the fourth onBorgert’s solo homer, then UVa scored once in the bottom of the inning assenior second baseman Ryan Gilleland (Forest, Va.) doubled and scored on anRBI double by junior outfielder Julian Gonzalez (Avon Park, Fla.).

Clemson added a run in the sixth, as Doug Roper singled and came around toscore on an RBI double by Boyd. The Tigers then made the score 7-2 onNystrom’s solo homer in the top of the seventh. Virginia then mounted itscomeback attempt in the bottom of the seventh, beginning with Bowling’ssolo home run. Wyant then doubled, after which senior outfielder JonKemmerer (Reston, Va.) drew a walk and senior third baseman Brian Sherlock(Medford, N.J.) hit an RBI single. Anderson then belted his three-run homerto tie the score at 7-7.

Righthander Scott Clackum picked up the win for Clemson, throwing 2-1/3innings of scoreless relief and allowing only one hit with five strikeouts.Sophomore righthander Kevin Shrout (Murrysville, Pa.) took a tough loss forthe Cavaliers, allowing no earned runs and no hits in two innings ofrelief, while striking out four.