Baseball to Close Out Regular Season at Wake Forest This Weekend

May 14, 2003

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Clemson (35-18, 12-9 ACC), ranked as high as #19, will play its final three regular-season games at Wake Forest (29-19, 8-12 ACC) and Hooks Stadium from Thursday to Saturday. Game one Thursday will start at 2:30 PM. Game two Friday will start at 1:30 PM and the series finale Saturday will start at 1:00 PM and be televised live by Fox Sports Net South. All three games will be broadcast live on the radio by Clemson Tiger Sports Properties and can be heard live via the internet at www.clemsontigers.com. Live stats will also be available for all three games on Clemson’s website. Clemson will then travel directly to Salem, VA to play in the ACC Tournament. The Tigers’ first game will be Wednesday.

Clemson holds a 99-43-1 lead in the series dating back to 1901. Last season, Clemson won two of three games at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers also defeated the Demon Deacons 8-6 in the ACC Tournament. In 2001 at Wake Forest, the Tigers also won two of three games. Clemson is 36-22 all-time at Wake Forest.

Tiger Head Coach Steve Pyzik is hitting .353 in 17 at bats as well. Last season, Tyler Lumsden made his first career start (which came against Wake Forest) a memorable one, earning the win by pitching 7.1 scoreless innings and allowing four hits while striking out seven.

The starting pitchers for both teams were not determined as of Wednesday morning.

Wake Forest is hitting .312 as a team, led by Ryan Johnson’s .384 average. Jamie D’Antona is hitting .376 with 20 homers and 78 RBIs as well. D’Antona is just ahead of Michael Johnson in career homers in ACC history. Ryan Hubbard has stolen 32 bases in 36 attempts, while Adam Bourassa has 28 in 29 tries. Kyle Sleeth is the Demon Deacons’ leading pitcher, posting a 7-2 record and 2.75 ERA. He also has 94 strikeouts against only 24 walks. Wake Forest’s ERA stands at 4.55 and it is fielding at a .966 clip.

Clemson is tied for fourth in the ACC standings with North Carolina, but has the tiebreaker over the Tar Heels because Clemson won two of three games between the two. The Tar Heels play host to Virginia this weekend. Clemson is coming off a 12-9 loss to Furman Tuesday and is hitting .307 as a team, led by Brad McCann’s .346 batting average. He also is on a 12-game hitting streak, while David Slevin is riding a 15-game hitting streak. Clemson sports a .969 fielding percentage and 4.09 team ERA as well.

Furman Rallies in Ninth For 12-9 Win Just five days after rallying for four runs down in the eighth inning to win, Furman did it again, this time scoring seven runs in the ninth inning to defeat #19 Clemson 12-9 May 13. It was the Tigers last regular-season home game their first loss when leading after eight innings since the final game of 2000, breaking Clemson’s 114-game streak. Another costly error doomed the Tigers, as four of the seven runs were unearned. Brad McCann’s extended his to 12 games. Furman outhit the Tigers 14-6, but the Tigers had 11 walks, compared to two by the Paladins.