Baseball Tops South Carolina 6-4

April 1, 1998

COLUMBIA, SC — Doug Roper’s two run home run and Kurt Bultman’s RBI double in the top of the ninth inning rallied Clemson to a 6-4 win over South Carolina Wednesday night in college baseball before an overflow crowd of 6,172 at Sarge Frye Field.

Scott Clackum, 4-0, was the winning pitcher in relief and Jason Pomar, 4-2, who gave up four hits and the three Tiger runs in the ninth, took the loss. The win improved forth ranked Clemson’s record to 29-4 while eighth ranked South Carolina dropped to 26-7.

South Carolina took a 4-3 lead into the ninth inning on the strength of Adam Everett’s two run eighth inning home run. Pomar replaced Brett Kondro on the mound and yielded a single to Justin Singleton to lead off the inning. After Derek Bogert struck out, Roper homered just inside the right field foul pole, scoring Singleton ahead of him to put Clemson up 5-4.

Henri Stanley flied to left for the second out but Patrick Boyd singled and Kurt Bultman doubled to right, scoring Boyd to give Clemson a two run lead.

South Carolina loaded the bases with two out in the bottom of the ninth but Ryan Bordenick’s ground ball to shortstop forced Derick Urquhart at second to end the game. Mic Knox had led off the Gamecock ninth with his third hit of the night and, with two out, Everett reached on a Clemson error. Urquhart walked to load the bases.

Clemson jumped on top, 2-0, in the second inning when Matt Padgett doubled and scored ahead of Peter Nystrom’s fourth home run of the season. South Carolina tied it at 2-2 on Adam Poe’s ninth homer behind Bordenick’s single in the fourth. Bultman hit his 10th homer in the eighth to give Clemson a 3-2 lead.

Everett’s eighth homer tied the score in the bottom of the eighth and South Carolina forged ahead, 4-3, when Urquhart scored on a balk by Clackum, who had relieved Clemson starter Matt White. Urquhart had singled and moved to third on a base hit by Bordenick.

Clemson collected 12 hits, three of them by Bogert, including a double. Bultman, with a double and a homer, had two hits for the Tigers and Singleton also had two hits. Knox had three of South Carolina’s nine hits, including a double. Bordenick, with two singles, was the only other Gamecock with more than one hit.

The loss broke a six game South Carolina win streak. South Carolina travels to Mississippi for a three game Southeastern Conference series this weekend. Clemson won its second straight game. The Tigers travel to Virginia for a three game ACC series this weekend.

CLEMSON          020 000 013 - 6-12-1SOUTH CAROLINA   000 200 020 - 4-9-1