Baseball vs. Charleston Game Notes

March 5, 2003

Clemson vs. College of Charleston Clemson will play the second of six games in six days on Wednesday against College of Charleston beginning at 4:00 PM. The game will be broadcast live on the radio by WCCP (104.9 FM) out of Clemson and can be heard live via the internet at www.clemsontigers.com. Live stats will also be available on Clemson’s website for the games.

The Series The Tigers hold a 9-0 lead all-time against College of Charleston dating back to 1899. Clemson defeated the Cougars twice last year, 14-6 at Charleston and 12-1 at home. Jack Leggett is 3-0 versus College of Charleston as the Tiger skipper.

The Starting Pitchers College of Charleston is tentatively scheduled to start sophomore lefthander Reid Price (0-1, 3.57 ERA), a transfer from Auburn. Clemson will counter with freshman righthander Kris Harvey (0-0, 11.25 ERA). He earned the save at #16 Auburn in the second game of a doubleheader on February 22 in his first career outing. The start will be the first of his career. Harvey had two hits in three at bats in yesterday’s win over Winthrop. Harvey is the son of former Major League pitcher Bryan Harvey.

College of Charleston Overview The Cougars are hitting .315 as a team and are led by Brett Anderson, who is hitting .435 with two homers and 10 RBIs. The Cougars, who are 1-3 in away games, have stolen 31 bases in 36 attempts in their 12 games, led by Brett Gardner’s seven. The pitching staff has a 5.47 ERA and is allowing a .294 batting average on the season. College of Charleston is coached by former Tiger righthander and assistant coach, and Major Leaguer John Pawlowski.

Clemson Overview Clemson is led at the plate by junior shortstop Russell Triplett, who is hitting .364 in seven starts. Michael Johnson has three of the team’s six homers and is hitting .304. The Tigers are hitting .268 on the season. Clemson has a 4.42 team ERA has a 3.3 strikeout-to-walk ratio on the season.

Tigers to Face Former Alum, Player, Coach When Clemson plays host to College of Charleston Wednesday, it will see a familar face. John Pawlowski is the head man for the Cougars, but has many Clemson ties. He was a three-year letterman at pitcher for the Tigers from 1983-85. He was drafted in the sixth round by the White Sox in 1985 and played two seasons with the Major League club (1987,88). He later became the pitching coach at Clemson from 1994-98, coaching the likes of Kris Benson, Billy Koch, Mike Holtz, Scott Winchester, and Ken Vining, all future big leaguers. He also took classes as a coach, earning his degree. After a season at Arizona State, he took the head coaching job at College of Charleston in 1999, a program that was abandoned for years. He is now in his fourth season with the Cougar program.

Tigers to Play Exhibition Game Against Chukyo On Thursday at 4:00 PM, Clemson will play host to Chukyo University of Japan in an exhibition game. The game will be broadcast on Clemson’s University radio station, WSBF (88.1 FM). Clemson last played an exhibition game against the Greenville (AA) Braves on April 4, 1988 at Clemson. The Tigers won that game 11-10. Former Major Leaguer and Japan League All-Star Orestes Destrade will be on hand to watch the game as a guest of Yuji Kishimoto, a Clemson professor who has assisted in the planning of Chukyo’s United States tour. According to Kishimoto, Destrade is revered with the likes of Ichiro Suzuki in Japan.

Tigers Rally to Defeat Winthrop 5-4 Tuesday Just like a season ago, Clemson broke a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the ninth inning with a walk-off hit to defeat Winthrop 5-4 Tuesday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. A season ago, Jeff Baker hit the third of his three homers in the ninth to defeat Winthrop 6-4. This year, Russell Triplett hit a single to deep left center, plating David Slevin. Slevin also hit his first career homer in the game, an opposite-field shot. He also added a double. Clemson tied the score in the eighth with an RBI groundout by Brad McCann and a suicide squeeze bunt by pinch-hitter Kyle Frank. Freshman righthander Brett Murphy picked up the win in his first career outing. He pitched the final 2.2 innings, allowing two hits, no runs, and no walks.

Triplett Solidifying Infield Junior shortstop Russell Triplett has been a valuable team member for the last three seasons, in that he can play any infield position. Entering this season, the shortstop position was up for grabs, but Triplett has taken hold of the chance to be the everyday shortstop thanks to steady fielding and a hot bat of late. The 2002 Second-Team All-ACC utility player is hitting a team-best .364 on the season and has yet to commit a fielding error. After starting the season 1-for-9 in his first three games, he has come alive at the plate in the last four games. He is 7-for-13 (.538) with five runs scored and three RBIs. He hit the walk-off single against Winthrop in the Tigers’ 5-4 win on March 4.

Lumsden Earns Conference Honors Clemson sophomore lefthander Tyler Lumsden (Roanoke, VA) was named ACC Pitcher-of-the-Week for his performance against #6 South Carolina Saturday. He allowed just four hits and one walk while striking out a career-high 11 batters in 7.1 shutout innings pitched. He shut down a Gamecock team that entered the contest hitting .336. He also did not allow a baserunner past second base the entire game.