Clemson Baseball To Face No. 7 Seed Virginia In ACC First Round

May 15, 2000

CLEMSON, S.C. – Second-seeded Clemson (42-14) will face #7-seed Virginia (24-29-1) in the first round of the ACC Tournament at 5:00 PM Wednesday. The tourney is in Fort Mill, SC at Knights Stadium for the first time. It is the home of the Charlotte Knights, a AAA minor league team. Sixth-ranked Clemson will face either Florida State or N.C. State in the second round at 1:30 or 8:30 depending on the first round results. All Tiger games in the tournament will be broadcast on the Clemson Sports Network.

Virginia, led by 20th-year Head Coach Dennis Womack, and Clemson closed out their regular seasons against one another at Charlottesville. Clemson won game one and game three. The Tigers lead the all-time series 88-25. Clemson leads Virginia 8-3 in ACC Tournament history. The last meeting was in 1996, a 4-2 Virginia win on its way to an ACC Championship.

Virginia is scheduled to start righthander Kevin Shrout. He started game on against Clemson this past weekend. The Tigers will counter with righthander Scott Berney, who did not pitch at Virginia this past weekend.

ACC Tournament History >Clemson, who finished 17-7 in ACC regular-season play, is the #2 seed in the 27th ACC Tournament, which will be held in the Charlotte area for the first time. The tournament begins May 16, but Clemson’s first game will be on May 17 at 5:00 PM against Virginia.

The Tigers have won at least two games in every ACC Tournament except one, that being the 1998 tourney. Clemson has won eight ACC Tournament titles, the last coming in 1994 in Greenville, SC. Clemson has a 80-39 (.672) record in tournament history. Last season, Clemson made it to the championship round, but fell to Wake Forest. The Tigers have also 20 ACC Regular-Season Championships, the last coming in 1995.

Several current Tigers have shined in past ACC Tournaments, led by Khalil Greene (.389 with four doubles and a homer in five games) and Justin Singleton (.417 with a double and homer in six games). Matt Additon has made four appearances and has a 1-0 record along with a 3.78 ERA in the ACC Tournament. Ryan Mottl has made three starts and has a 1-2 record along with a 6.30 ERA. Mike Proto has made two appearances, including a start, and has a 6.35 ERA with eight strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched.

ACC Tournament Tickets Available Fans can purchase all-session passes to the ACC Tournament for $45 through the Charlotte Knights Box Office at (704) 36-HOMER. Fans can also find out more information on www.aaaknights.com, the Knights’ official website. The tournament will be held at Knights Stadium in Fort Mill, SC for the first time ever. A six-session pass is available for $30, and each sessions’ ticket price is $5 in advance and $6 on gameday. Students with ID, children 18 and under, and senior citizens 60 and over can purchase tickets for just $30 for an all-session pass, $15 for a six-session pass, and $3 per session if purchased in advance, $4 per session on gameday.

Clemson Moves Up to #6 in Collegiate Baseball Poll Clemson is ranked #6 in this week’s Collegiate Baseball poll, a two-spot jump from last week, and #7 in this week’s USA Today Baseball Weekly poll. The Tigers went 3-2 last week, with wins against #4 Florida State and two wins at Virginia. Clemson lost at Liberty and fell in one game to Virginia. Clemson is also ranked #7 by Baseball America. South Carolina is #1 in all three polls. Five ACC teams are ranked in the top 15 in this week’s Collegiate Baseball poll. The top-10 rankings in all three polls is the 10th in a row for the Tigers as well.

Clemson To Be Host Site for Regional For the fifth time in seven seasons under Head Coach Jack Leggett, the Tigers will host a regional from May 26-28 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium (5,000). Clemson hosted last in 1998 and also hosted from 1994-96. Of the 16 regional sites, only South Carolina and Florida State had better regular-season records. The 16 host sites are listed below.

* – off-campus site

NCAA Regional Tickets Available The Clemson ticket office will begin accepting reservations for tournament passes to the 2000 NCAA Regional Baseball Tournament on Tuesday, May 9. Each reserve seat tournament pass is $50 and can be purchased through the ticket office between 8:30 AM and 4:30 PM at the Clemson Ticket office at Clemson Memorial Stadium.

Checks and money orders will be returned if Clemson does not host a regional. The four-team regional format will feature six games, to be held May 26-28. All season ticket holders have priority in reserving their seats until May 19. Reserved tickets can be picked up at the ticket office between May 23-25 between 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM.

Tickets that have not been picked up by May 26 will be available 90 minutes prior to the first game at the third base gate at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. No tickets will be mailed. For more information, call 1-800 CLEMSON or 864-656-2118.

Clemson Takes Two of Three Games Against Cavaliers Clemson (42-14, 17-7) won the first and last of three games at Virginia from May 13-14. Clemson won game one 9-7, while Virginia (24-29-1, 10-14) responded with an 11-0 win in game two. Clemson exploded in the series’ finale with a 20-9 win. Clemson hit .364 in the series, led by Casey Stone’s eight hits in 11 at bats. The Tigers had 12 extra base hits in the series, 10 of which came in game three.

In game one, which was the first game of a rain-shortened doubleheader, Clemson scored five runs on the fifth on its way to a 9-7 win. Nick Glaser got his 14th save of the season, tying a Clemson single-season record. Jarrod Schmidt got the win, his eighth against no losses, as he tossed 5.0 innings, allowing four earned runs on seven hits. Casey Stone’s had three hits apiece to lead the Tigers’ 13-hit attack. Clemson scored the five runs in the fifth thanks to Schmidt’s run-scoring double and Ryan Riley’s two-run single up the middle. He broke a 0-for-11 slump with the hit.

In game two, Virginia blanked the Tigers 11-0 behind the pitching of lefty starter Brandon Creswell. He allowed four hits and no runs in 6.0 innings to ear the win. Clemson had seven hits in the game, while Virginia had 14. Ryan Mottl went 4.0 innings, allowing nine hits and three earned runs as he suffered the loss. Casey Stone’s led Clemson with two hits. Jon Benick and Luis Giraldo had three RBIs apiece to pace the Cavaliers.

Game three, Clemson exploded for 20 runs on 20 hits in the first five innings on its way to a 20-9 victory in the regular-season finale. The Tigers totaled 10 extra base hits in the first five innings, led by Khalil Greene and Jarrod Schmidt two doubles apiece. Jeff Baker added a double and homer as well. Clemson scored four runs in the first, two in the second, three in the third, nine in the fourth, and two in the fifth. Eight different Tigers had at least two hits, led by Matt Additon earned the win in 2.0 innings of work.

Tigers Finish in Second Place in Final ACC Standings Clemson’s 17-7 conference record was good for second place in the conference. The Tigers finished one game behind first place Georgia Tech, who was 18-6 in league play. Florida State finished third at 15-9 and Wake Forest fourth at 14-10. North Carolina finished fifth at 12-12, while N.C. State and Virginia were tied for sixth at 10-14. Maryland and Duke rounded out the conference standings. The Tigers have finished in the top three in the standings for 28 of the last 30 seasons. Since 1957, the season before Bill Wilhelm’s first of 36 seasons at Clemson, the Tigers have not finished worse than fifth in the ACC.

Injury Update

• Michael Johnson broke his left hand when he was hit by a pitch in the first inning against Western Carolina on April 26. X-rays taken on May 1 confirmed the fracture. He will be out of action until late May. He will not play in the ACC Tournament.
• Jeff Baker has a contused calf and is listed as day-to-day.

  Noteworthy

• Khalil Greene is 24-for-49 (.490) with 17 RBIs in his last 12 games. He is hitting a team-best .363 overall and has a current 14-game hitting streak. In the three games against #2 Florida State, he was 7-for-11 (.636) with five RBIs. He also hit a team-best .421 in ACC play.
• Casey Stone’s is 19-for-31 (.613) with 11 RBIs in his last eight games.
• After starting the season 1-for-28, Justin Singleton is 21-for-53 (.396) since.
• Clemson hit .364 against Virginia in three games
• Clemson is 7-2 in one-run games and 8-3 in two-run games this year.
• Clemson is 29-1 when it totals 10 hits or more in a game.
• Clemson is 32-5 at home this season.
• Nick Glaser 14 saves is tied for the most in a season in Tiger history. He shares the record of 14 with Scott Winchester (1995).
• Clemson has one of the nation’s best fielding percentages of .969.
• Tiger pitchers are holding opponents to a .210 batting average with two outs.
• Scott Berney started the season by not allowing a run in his first 32.2 innings pitched, which is a Clemson record.

  On the Personal Side…

• Khalil Greene is a die-hard professional wrestling fan. His favorite wrestler is Ric Flair. Both he and Flair have blonde hair.
• Clemson has two starting infielders whose hometowns are about as far away from each as possible in the continental United States. Third-baseman Khalil Greene is from Key West, FL and second-baseman Ryan Riley is from Seattle, WA. If you were to drive from the driveways of their respective homes, it would take 67.5 hours to drive the 3,531 miles.
• Freshmen Jarrod Schmidt and Chad Bendinelli were teammates at Lassiter High in Marietta, GA. They also lived next door to each other since the age of one.
• Jeff Baker and Ryan Hub have both lived in numerous countries all over the world. They are both sons of fathers in the military. Baker was born in Germany and also lived in United Arab Emerites. Hub lived in South Korea, Kuwait, and was born in England. Hub has also traveled all over the world in his travels.
• Brian Ellis and Brian Holstad will earn their degrees in May. Ellis majored in Agriculture Economics and Holstad majored in mechanical engineering. The two are also the last holdovers from Clemson’s last College World Series appearance in 1996. Both red-shirted that season.
• Justin Singleton is the son of 15-year Major Leaguer Ken Singleton. Ken works with the MSG Network and provides commentary for the Yankees.
• Nick Glaser and Ryan Riley’s both transfered to Clemson before the season from Edmonds Community College in Washington. Both Glaser and Riley have played prominent roles in the 2000 season. Their head coach at Edmonds is first-year Tiger assistant coach Hank King.
• Bradley LeCroy is no relation to former Tiger star Matthew LeCroy.
• Steve Reba’s father, Michael, has not missed a Clemson baseball game for the past two seasons. He rents an apartment in Clemson and does his work via computer. He is a bond salesman. Michael has not missed one of Steve’s games since his early childhood days as well.
• Ryan Mottl father, Steve, is an active participant on Clemson message boards on the internet. “Clemfan” keeps many other Tiger fans up-to-date on news and notes about Clemson baseball with his emails.
• Casey Stone’s is engaged to marry his fiance’, Kimberly Stewart, in December. Stewart is a senior PRTM major at Clemson.
• Paul Harrelson goes by “Woody” and “Hawk” by teammates and coaches.
• North Carolina assistant football coach and former Clemson quarterback Mike O’Cain is the godfather of Thomas Boozer.
• Pitching Coach Kevin O’Sullivan was an all-conference catcher at Virginia in the early 1990s.
• Head Coach Jack Leggett broke his neck in December in a skiing accident while vacationing in Colorado. He hit a depression in the snow and lost his balance, causing him to land awkardly. He came within inches of being paralyzed. Miraculously, he did not miss any practices or games. He did have to wear a neck brace for the first few weeks of the season.

Individual Player Miscellaneous Batting Stats Below is a look at Tiger batters’ batting averages in certain situations.

Glaser One Save Away From Breaking Single-Season Record Junior righthander Nick Glaser transferred to Clemson from Edmonds CC in Washington with the hopes of making an immediate impact. He has done just that as he has 14 saves in 29 relief appearances. He has allowed 33 hits, 10 earned runs, and 26 walks along with 38 strikeouts in 35.2 innings. Six of his 26 walks have been intentional. He pitched 4.0 innings in relief in the first game of a doubleheader against #11 Wake Forest on April 15, then pitched 2.0 more innings in game two. He earned the save in game two and did not allow a run in either game. He exudes the typical closer personality with his slingshot-type delivery and fiery attitude. His 14 saves ties him with Scott Winchester for the most in a season by a Tiger.

Clemson Single-Season Save Leaders

Stone Thriving as Tiger Leadoff Hitter Junior outfielder Casey Stone’s (Abbeville, SC) has cemented his role as the Tiger leadoff hitter of late thanks to his consistent hitting of late. He has batted in the leadoff spot 31 times this season, including in each of the last 25 games. In those 25 games, he is hitting 45-for-107 (.421). He is also 19-for-his-last-30 (.633) with 11 RBIs over eight games since he lined out to right field at #5 Georgia Tech in his first at bat on April 30 eight games ago. Stone has upped his batting average to .357, second-best on the team. He has a .506 on-base percentage when leading off an inning overall and has been an excellent “table-setter” for Jack Leggett. He even hits lefties well with his .438 batting average against Southpaws. Stone hit his first career homer at #5 Georgia Tech on April 30. It came on his 361st career at bat. He also had the game-winning hit in the ninth inning to beat #2 Florida State on May 7. Stone, who stands 5-6 and weighs 155 pounds, is a hard-nosed aggressive player in the mold of Jack Leggett himself. Stone has nine doubles, three triples, and 20 stolen bases as well. He also has 13 sacrifice bunts this season, most in a season by a Tiger in history. He also holds the career record in that category with 24. Stone is engaged to Kimberly Stewart, a Clemson student. The wedding is set to take place in December, 2000.

Greene Riding a 14-Game Hitting Streak Sophomore third baseman Khalil Greene has continued right where he left off last season. Overall, the Key West, FL native is hitting a team-best .363 with four homers and 53 RBIs. Greene had a team-season high five hits at Duke on April 23. The self-proclaimed Ric Flair and avid wresting fan is 24-for-49 (.490) in the last 12 games and is currently on a 14-game hitting streak. He went 7-for-11 (.636) with five RBIs against Florida State from May 6-8. Greene hit .358 with a Tiger freshman-record 98 hits in ’99. Greene has also made many great plays at third base. He is the only regular in the infield from a season ago. Greene has a .940 fielding percentage (10 errors) this season after having a not-so-great .881 mark in 1999.