Baseball Looks to Extend Streak Against College of Charleston

May 15, 2006

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Clemson vs. College of Charleston Clemson (39-13), ranked as high as #3 in the nation, will play host to #21 College of Charleston (38-12) on Tuesday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 PM. The game will be broadcast live on the radio by WCCP (104.9 FM) out of Clemson. Live stats will also be available at ClemsonTigers.com for the game.

The Starting Pitchers College of Charleston is tentatively scheduled to start freshman lefty Jeff Beliveau (4-2, 3.48 ERA) on the mound. The Johnston, RI native has made nine starts and two relief appearances for a total of 54.1 innings pitched. He has allowed 55 hits and 24 walks with 44 strikeouts.

The Tigers will counter with sophomore righty P.J. Zocchi (4-0, 3.70 ERA) on Tuesday. The Bronx, NY native has made five starts and eight relief appearances (41.1 innings pitched). He has yielded 43 hits and 21 walks with 46 strikeouts. In Clemson’s 6-0 win at College of Charleston on March 3, Zocchi earned the win, allowing five hits, no runs, and two walks with four strikeouts in 6.0 innings pitched in a starting role.

The Series Clemson and College of Charleston have met 16 times on the baseball diamond. The Tigers have won all 16 games, including a 6-0 win on March 3, 2006. In that game, three pitchers combined for a six-hit shutout in #1 Clemson’s victory in front of a record crowd of 3,122 fans at Patriots Point Field.

In 2005, Clemson won both matchups, including an 8-5 win at the end of the regular season and a 6-0 victory in the Clemson Regional. The Tigers won both meetings in 2002, 2003, and 2004 along with a single game in 2001. Before the game in 2001, the two had not played each other since 1912.

The Tigers lead 10-0 in games played at Clemson and 6-0 in games played at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Head Coach Jack Leggett is 10-0 against the Cougars.

The Cougars College of Charleston, led by seventh-year Head Coach John Pawlowski, enters the game with a 38-12 overall record and 19-5 Southern Conference mark after winning two of three games at Furman over the weekend. The team, who is 16-7 on the road, has allowed 10 hits or more in just one of its last 19 games.

Pawlowski lettered at Clemson three times (1983-85) and went on to play two years (1987,88) in the Major Leagues with the Chicago White Sox. He later went on to be Clemson’s pitching coach from 1994-98, coaching the likes of Kris Benson, Billy Koch, and Ken Vining. Another member of the Cougar squad has ties to the Tiger program. Jess Easterling, who played in Tigertown in 2003 after red-shirting in 2002, is hitting .343 with a team-high six homers and 34 RBIs in 47 games.

The Cougars are hitting .326 as a team with a .397 on-base percentage and 109 stolen bases in 138 attempts. Four players have double-digit steals, including Phillip Coker (31), Oliver Marmol (25), Larry Cobb (18), and Joey Friddle (14).

Cobb is hitting a team-best .362, while Coker is second at .350. Friddle (.349), Alex Garabedian (.344), Chris Campbell (.326), and Marmol (.324) also have solid batting averages.

The Cougars have a 2.76 ERA and .235 opponents’ batting average. Junior righthander Josh McLaughlin has 14 of the team’s 17 saves along with a 1.09 ERA in 28 relief appearances. College of Charleston sports a .964 fielding percentage as well.

The Tigers Clemson enters the game with a 39-13 overall record and 21-6 ACC mark after sweeping #13 Florida State at home over the weekend. Clemson, who is 27-5 at home, has won 11 games in a row and reached the 39-win mark for 21 straight seasons.

The team is hitting .300 with a .371 on-base percentage and 71 stolen bases in 89 attempts. Clemson also has 109 doubles, 14 triples, and 59 home runs along with 41 sacrifice bunts in 52 games. The Tigers sport a .970 fielding percentage as well.

Three Tigers have double-digit hitting streaks, including Herman Demmink (13), Tyler Colvin (11), and Brad Chalk (10). All nine Tiger regulars in the field are hitting between .282 and .335. Chalk leads the team at .335 with a school-record 18 sacrifice bunts, while Andy D’Alessio, a reigning national player-of-the-week by Collegiate Baseball, is hitting .330 with 18 homers and 67 RBIs.

The pitching staff has a 3.23 ERA and .244 opponents’ batting average. Lefty Daniel Moskos has eight of the team’s 14 saves. In Clemson’s last 13 games (12-1 record), Tiger relievers have combined for 44.2 innings pitched, allowing 24 hits (.160 opponents’ batting average), one earned run (0.20 ERA), and 12 walks with 46 strikeouts.

Polls Clemson climbed three spots to #4 in the Baseball America poll on Monday after a 6-0 week. The Tigers also went to #5 in the Collegiate Baseball poll and jumped to #3 in the Sports Weekly poll.

The Tigers’ #1 ranking by Baseball America on February 6, which Clemson held on to for a total of four weeks, was their first since May 13, 2002, when Clemson was ranked #1 in all three major polls. It was the earliest #1 ranking for the Clemson program in history, as the earliest #1 ranking prior to that was on March 20, 2000, when Collegiate Baseball had the Tigers #1. The Tigers have been ranked #1 for 19 weeks by at least one of the major polls in Head Coach Jack Leggett’s 13th season at Clemson.

39 Wins With an 11-2 win over #13 Florida State on May 14, Clemson reached the 39-win mark for the 21st year in a row. Clemson is one of only a handful of schools with such a streak of 39-win seasons.

11-Game Winning Streak Since suffering a narrow 3-2 loss at Boston College in the first game of a doubleheader on April 22, Clemson has reeled off 11 wins in a row to improve to 39-13 on the season. The streak is tied for the longest current streak in the nation, as Georgia has also won 11 games in a row.

Clemson’s 10-Game ACC Winning Streaks After starting the ACC schedule suffering a three-game sweep at Virginia, Clemson reeled off 10 conference wins in a row. The three series sweeps came against #12 N.C. State, #11 Miami (FL), and Maryland, and the 10th win came at #10 Georgia Tech. The 10-game ACC winning streak was Clemson’s longest since it won 11 ACC games in a row over the 2003 and 2004 seasons. In 2003, Clemson won its last five ACC games. Then to start 2004, the Tigers won their first six ACC games. The 10-game winning streak was the longest during a single season since 1995, when Clemson won its first 11 ACC games.

Following the first 10-game, ACC winning streak, the Tigers lost three of their next four league games. But since, Clemson has won 10 ACC games in a row, giving the Tigers two double-digit, ACC winning streaks in the same season, a first in school history. Clemson’s 21 ACC regular-season wins in 2006 are also tied for the most in a season by a Tiger team, as the 2005 team was 21-9 in ACC regular-season games.

Three Tigers on Double-Digit Hitting Streaks Three Tigers are currently riding double-digit hitting streaks. Herman Demmink 13-game hitting streak is tied for the longest by a Tiger this year, as Andy D’Alessio had a 13-game hitting streak earlier in the season. It is also Demmink’s second double-digit hitting streak of the season, as he had a 10-game hitting streak earlier in 2006.

Tyler Colvin is also riding an 11-game hitting streak, while Brad Chalk is on a 10-game hitting streak.

Harbin’s Rebound After seeing his batting average dip to a career-low .265 in mid-April, Taylor Harbin has rebounded of late to raise his average to .320. In the last 16 games, he’s been the hottest Tiger at the plate. He is hitting .435 (27-for-62) over that stretch with five walks and only two strikeouts. He also has hit safely in 14 of those 16 games with 10 multi-hit games. He has tallied at least two hits in five-straight games as well.

D’Alessio National Player-of-the-Week Again For the second time in 2006, Andy D’Alessio was named national player-of-the-week by Collegiate Baseball on May 15. This time, he was one of only three players lauded by Collegiate Baseball. In six games from May 8-14, he was 9-for-20 (.450) with five homers and nine RBIs to lead Clemson to a 6-0 record, including a three-game sweep of #13 Florida State. He had two two-homer games against Duke as well. He was also named ACC Player-of-the-Week for the second time.

Demmink on Second Double-Digit Hit Streak Graduate designated hitter Herman Demmink is riding a 13-game hitting streak. He is hitting .380 (19-for-50) during the streak and .306 overall as the leadoff batter in the lineup this season. It is his second double-digit-game hitting streak of the season, as he had a 10-game hitting streak earlier in 2006.

Tigers Sweep Seminoles Clemson, ranked #7 in the nation, swept #13 Florida State by a combined score of 24-6 in three games at Doug Kingsmore Stadium from May 12-14. The Tigers out-hit the Seminoles .354 to .194 and totaled 12 extra-base hits to Florida State’s two, including no homers. Herman Demmink was 6-for-13 (.462), Andy D’Alessio was 4-for-10 with a homer and three RBIs. Clemson’s pitching staff had a 1.93 ERA, including just three hits and no runs allowed in 9.2 innings pitched by Tiger relievers.

In game one, Clemson pounded 18 hits in a 9-1 victory over the Seminoles on May 12. The Tigers scored nine runs on 15 hits in 4.0 innings pitched by ace Tyler Chambliss, while Stephen Faris allowed just one run on three hits in 7.2 innings pitched to pick up the win. Storrer had a game-high four hits, while Smith tied a school record held by many with three doubles. He also totaled three RBIs and reached base in all five plate appearances. Harbin and Demmink also added three hits apiece.

In game two, Tyler Colvin singled home Smith with a single through the right side in the 10th inning to lift Clemson to a 4-3 victory over Florida State on May 13. The Tigers tied the score with two outs in the ninth inning on Adrian Casanova’s single up the middle. Florida State maintained a 3-0 lead until Storrer hit a two-run triple in the sixth inning. Relievers David Kopp and Ryan Hinson combined for 6.0 innings pitched, allowing three hits and no runs, as Hinson picked up the win. It was the Tigers’ first extra-inning win over the Seminoles since the first game of the series in 1958 (103rd all-time game).

In game three, Smith, Harbin, and D’Alessio all hit home runs in Clemson’s 11-2 win over Florida State on May 14. Smith’s two-out, three-run homer in the fourth inning put the Tigers ahead 7-2, then Harbin and D’Alessio hit solo homers in the fifth inning on reliever Travis Burge’s first two pitches of the game. Smith had a game-high four RBIs, while Harbin and D’Alessio added two RBIs apiece. Five Tigers in all had two hits apiece, as Clemson totaled 13 hits in the contest. Jason Berken allowed two runs on seven hits in 6.2 innings pitched to earn the win.