Clemson Baseball Blanks Maine 8-0

March 21, 2002

The pitching staff threw its first shutout of the year as Clemson defeated Maine 8-0 on Thursday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Clemson moved to 16-1 while dropping Maine to 9-3. Clemson Head Coach Jack Leggett moved to 8-0 against his alma mater while at Clemson.

Matt Henrie (4-0) earned the win by pitching seven shutout innings, allowing just five hits and striking out five batters. Chad Bendinelli and Jarrod Schmidt closed the game with a scoreless inning each. Mike Collar (1-1) got the loss for Maine.

Clemson jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. L.J. DeMaino singled to right, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. He scored on Kyle Frank’s sacrifice fly to center field.

Jarrod Schmidt tripled to lead off the second inning and scored when next batter Jeff Hourigan homered to left center. It was the third game in a row Hourigan homered, making him the third Tiger this season to homer in at least three straight games. Khalil Greene just ended a streak of five games in a row with a long ball.

The game turned into a pitcher’s duel in the middle innings. Maine’s Collar retired 11 batters in a row at one point while Clemson’s Henrie retired seven straight. Clemson got back on the board in the sixth inning, once again scoring when the leadoff batter reached. Frank singled and scored on Johnson’s double down the first base line. Schmidt then stepped to the plate and belted a two-run homer to give the Tigers a 6-0 lead.

Greene hit a two-run double in the seventh inning, marking the 10th straight multi-hit game. Greene and Johnson both extended their hitting streaks to 14 games. Greene, Schmidt and Hourigan led the way on offense with two hits apiece.

The two teams will face off on Friday night at 7:15 PM at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Steven Jackson (2-1) will start for the Tigers while Rich Laganiere (2-0) is expected to start for Maine.