Clemson Baseball Tops Florida State

April 25, 1998

Clemson, SC — Jason Harris’ three-run, two-out home run down the right field line in the eighth inning lifted fourth-ranked Clemson to a 5-4 win over 10th-ranked Florida State at Tiger Field on Saturday night, April 25. With the win, Clemson improved to 10-1 against the Seminoles at Tiger Field since Florida State joined the ACC.

Harris, who had not hit a home run since March 22, hit a 2-0 fastball off lefty reliever Zach Diaz above the right field wall to put Clemson (40-7, 12-4) up 5-3. The Seminoles’ (39-14, 14-4) Jeremiah Klosterman cut the Clemson lead in half with a pinch-hit home run off Clemson closer Scott Clackum. But Clackum got pinch hitter Henry Mayfield to ground out to shortstop to end the game.

Tiger starter Brian Adams (6-0) earned the victory by pitching a career long eight innings, allowing five hits, three runs, and no walks while striking out eight. Adams threw only 97 pitches in the eight innings (66 strikes and 31 balls). Clackum pitched the final inning to record his eighth save of the year. Klosterman’s home run also broke a streak of 23.2 consecutive scoreless innings by Clackum and was only the second extra base hit allowed by Clackum this season.

Chris Chavez (6-3) faced one batter, allowing a single up the middle by Matt Padgett. Padgett scored Clemson’s fourth run, therefore Chavez took the loss for Florida State. Padgett also extended his hitting streak to 16 games with the single. Florida State starter Jon McDonald had a no decision, despite pitching brilliantly for seven innings. He allowed six hits, three runs, and one walk while striking out nine in 7.2 innings.

Florida State jumped out to a 3-0 lead after five innings. Two of the runs came on solo home runs; one by Brian Cox and one by Matt Diaz, both of which were in the fourth inning. The Seminoles added a run in the fifth on an RBI double by Brett Groves.

Clemson scored five runs in the eighth inning, capped by Harris’ dramatic home run. Peter Nystrom led off the inning with a single, then Justin Singleton put runners on second and third with no outs with a double to left-center. After Doug Roper popped up, Brian Ellis drove home Nystrom on a groundout to second. Patrick Boyd then cut the Seminole lead to one with an infield single. Boyd hit a slow roller to first baseman Matt Woodward and avoided the tag in foul territory, keeping the inning alive for Harris’ heroics. After Padgett’s single off Chavez, in came Diaz, who gave up the homer to Harris.

The win meant that Clemson has now won 40 or more games for 13 straight seasons. Clemson also improved to 15-0 in night games, 11-0 when committing no errors, and 6-0 against ranked teams this season.

Clemson will play host to Florida State in the series finale on Sunday at 1:00 PM. The game will be televised on Fox Sports South at 4:00 PM on a tape delay basis. Please note this change. Florida State will look to get a win tomorrow after losing 2-1 on Friday and by the 5-4 score on Saturday night.

Florida State       0  0  0     2  1  0     4  0  1 -     4    6    0Clemson             0  0  0     0  0  0     0  5    -     5    8    0

Win – B. Adams (6-0) Loss – Chavez (6-3) Save – Clackum (8) 2B – Zabala (12), Badeaux (7), Groves (15), Singleton (2) HR – Cox (10), M. Diaz (13), Klosterman (2), Harris (8) Time: 2:16 Attendance: 5,755