Clemson Baseball Team to Play Host to Western Carolina Wednesday Night

April 15, 2009

Clemson vs. Western Carolina Clemson (24-12), ranked as high as #18 in the country, will host Western Carolina (20-13) on Wednesday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 PM. On Tuesday night at Hennon Stadium, the Tigers defeated Western Carolina by a score of 11-1. Wednesday’s game will be broadcast live on the radio by WCCP (104.9 FM) out of Clemson and can be heard live on the internet at ClemsonTigers.com.

The Series Clemson and Western Carolina have met 63 times on the diamond, with the Tigers holding a 51-12 lead in the series that dates back to 1974. On Tuesday night at Hennon Stadium, Clemson totaled 13 hits and defeated Western Carolina 11-1.

On April 15, 2008, the Catamounts won at Clemson by a score of 6-2 before the Tigers won at Western Carolina by a score of 6-0 seven days later. The two teams have played at least one game every year since 1978.

The Tigers lead 36-3 in games played at Clemson, all of which have been played at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Leggett served as the head coach at Western Carolina from 1983-91 and won 302 games in nine years there. He was also 3-15 against the Tigers as the Catamount skipper.

The Starting Pitchers Western Carolina will start freshman righthander Kyle Stewart (3-0, 3.51 ERA) on the mound. The Onalaska, WI native has made four starts and three relief appearances for a total of 25.2 innings pitched. He has allowed 18 hits (.189 opponents’ batting average) and 16 walks with 26 strikeouts.

Clemson will counter with freshman righthander David Haselden (0-0, 7.71 ERA) on Wednesday. The Spartanburg, SC native, who will be making his first career start, has made three relief appearances for a total of 7.0 innings pitched. He has allowed nine hits (.346 opponents’ batting average) and no walks with five strikeouts.

The Catamounts Western Carolina, led by second-year Head Coach Bobby Moranda, enters Wednesday’s game at #18 Clemson with a 20-13 overall record and 9-5 SoCon mark after falling to Clemson by a score of 11-1 at home on Tuesday night. The Catamounts also lost two of three games at home against Georgia Southern over the weekend. Earlier this season, the Catamounts won two of three games at Southern California. Western Carolina sports a 6-6 road record as well.

Western Carolina, who is 5-1 in one-run games, is averaging 8.0 runs per game and hitting .326 with a .497 slugging percentage and .407 on-base percentage. The team has also totaled 82 doubles, nine triples, 35 homers, and 81 stolen bases in 97 attempts.

Mitchell Hatley is hitting .535 in 43 at-bats, while Ross Heffley is batting .434. Brent Greer is hitting .393 with four homers and 28 RBIs. Nick Liles is batting .364 with 16 steals. Trevor Collias has stolen a team-high 20 bases in 22 attempts and J.C. Lyons has added 15 steals.

The pitching staff has a 5.11 ERA and .273 opponents’ batting average along with 275 strikeouts against 140 walks in 294.0 innings pitched. Junior righthander Daniel Ottone has a team-high five saves and a .222 opponents’ batting average in 13 relief appearances. The Catamounts are fielding at a .953 clip as well.

The Tigers Clemson, ranked as high as #18 in the nation, enters Wednesday’s game against Western Carolina with a 24-12 overall record and 11-7 ACC mark after downing Western Carolina on the road by a score of 11-1 on Tuesday night. The Tigers also won two of three games at home against #5 Miami (FL) over the weekend. Clemson has an 18-5 home record as well.

The Tigers are averaging 6.7 runs per game and hitting .293 with a .442 slugging percentage and .383 on-base percentage. Clemson has also totaled 60 doubles, 10 triples, 35 homers, and 45 stolen bases in 59 attempts.

Ben Paulsen is hitting a team-best .392 with 13 doubles, for triples, seven homers, and 39 RBIs. Jeff Schaus is hitting .316 with a .435 on-base percentage thanks to 26 walks against only 12 strikeouts. Kyle Parker has added seven homers and 35 RBIs along with a .303 batting average in 33 games.

The pitching staff has a 3.68 ERA and .244 opponents’ batting average. The staff has allowed 108 walks against 309 strikeouts, good for a 2.9-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Tomas Cruz has a 2-1 record, three saves, and a 2.20 ERA in 14 relief appearances. The Tigers are fielding at a .967 clip as well.

Parker’s Two-Sport Day April 11, 2009 is a day Kyle Parker will never forget. At 1:00 PM, he suited up to start for the White squad in Clemson’s Spring Football Game. All he did was complete 13-21 passes for 171 yards and one touchdown against no interceptions along with a rushing touchdown to lead his team to a 30-13 victory in the game that ended at approximately 3:10 PM. But his day was far from over.

Since Clemson’s series-opener scheduled for the previous night was rained out, Clemson and #5 Miami (FL) played a doubleheader beginning at 3:34 PM on Saturday. Parker rushed to change out of his football uniform at Memorial Stadium, had to run across the street, then change into his baseball uniform at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

He did not make it in time to be penciled in the starting lineup for the first game, but he came off the bench in the third inning to hit a pinch-hit single to score a run. For that game, he was 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs. Then in the second game of the doubleheader, he was 1-for-3 with a homer, two RBIs, and a walk. Therefore in the doubleheader, he was 3-for-7 with two home runs and five RBIs. All in a day’s work for Parker.

Parker also received ACC Player-of-the-Week honors on April 13 for his efforts in five games from April 7-12. He went 8-for-18 (.444) with two doubles, two homers, 11 RBIs, four runs, and three walks in the five games, two against arch-rival South Carolina and three against the #5 Hurricanes. He had at least one hit and one RBI in all five games (and at least two RBIs in four of the five games) during the week.

Tigers Tame Catamounts 11-1 Ben Paulsen, and Kyle Parker all totaled three hits apiece to lead #18 Clemson to an 11-1 win against Western Carolina at Hennon Stadium on April 14. The Tigers’ 3-4-5 hitters combined to go 9-for-12 with seven runs, as Clemson accumulated 13 hits in all. Mike Freeman and Wilson Boyd added three RBIs apiece. Clemson broke the game open with three runs in the sixth inning and five runs in the seventh inning. Starter Graham Stoneburner pitched 7.0 innings, allowing five hits, one run, and two walks with 11 strikeouts to earn the win. Stoneburner, Kyle Deese, and Will Lamb also combined to strike out 16 batters.