Clemson Baseball Weekly Wrap-Up

March 27, 2006

Overall Season Record: 16-6ACC Regular-Season Record: 3-3

Last Week: 5-0Tue. W home vs. Elon, 5-3Wed. W home vs. Elon, 7-4Fri. W home vs. #12 N.C. State, 9-5Sat. W home vs. #12 N.C. State, 4-2Sun. W home vs. #12 N.C. State, 6-2

Next WeekTue. Away vs. Georgia, 7:00 PMWed. Home vs. Georgia, 7:00 PMFri. Away vs. Miami (FL), 7:00 PMSat. Away vs. Miami (FL), 7:00 PMSun. Away vs. Miami (FL), 1:00 PM

Notes

• Clemson went 5-0 last week (all at home) against solid competition, which included wins by scores of 5-3 and 7-4 over Elon and a three-game sweep of #12 N.C. State by scores of 9-5, 4-2, and 6-2. The Tigers’ five-game winning streak improved their overall record to 16-6 with a 3-3 ACC mark.
• In two games against Elon, Clemson out-hit the Phoenix .258 to .215 and committed just one error. The Tiger offense also walked nine times against only four strikeouts and stole eight bases in nine attempts. Andy D’Alessio had three hits, including two homers, and six RBIs as well.
• Clemson swept N.C. State by a combined score of 19-9 over the weekend. The Tigers outhit N.C. State, who entered the series hitting .367, by 91 points (.305 to .214) and stole six bases. Clemson’s pitching staff had a 2.67 ERA, as all three Tiger starting pitchers earned victories. Tyler Colvin was 5-for-11 (.455) with three doubles, a triple, and four RBIs to lead Clemson in the series.
• In five games during the week, Clemson hit .287 while holding its opponents to a .215 average. Andy D’Alessio also hit three homers and drove in 10 runs.
• After totaling only 18 steals in its first 17 games, Clemson stole 14 bases in 16 attempts in five games last week.
• The Tiger pitching staff had a 2.80 ERA and three saves. The staff also allowed just five total extra-base hits against two potent offenses in Elon and N.C. State. Clemson’s weekend rotation of Josh Cribb, Jason Berken, and Stephen Faris combined for a 3-0 record and 20.1 innings pitched against N.C. State. They also combined for a 1.77 ERA, .205 opponent batting average, 15 hits (13 singles, two doubles), and five walks with 18 strikeouts.
• Faris led the Tigers to victory on Sunday with 8.0 scoreless innings of four-hit ball, along with no walks and five strikeouts. Freshman lefthander gave the staff a boost with 6.1 scoreless innings pitched of four-hit ball over two relief outings during the week.
• Overall in 2006, Colvin leads the club with a .342 batting average along with eight doubles, a triple, five homers, 19 RBIs, and seven stolen bases. Herman Demmink is hitting .333 with a team-best .440 on-base percentage and eight steals, while D’Alessio has five long balls and a team-high 21 RBIs. Clemson’s regular starting rightfielder, Travis Storrer, appeared in only one game (off the bench) this past week due to an abdominal strain. Freshman D.J. Mitchell filled in nicely with four hits and two spectacular catches.
• Clemson’s batting average stands at .280 on the season. The team also has 32 stolen bases in 38 attempts. The pitching staff sports a 2.69 ERA and .227 opponents’ batting averaage. Cribb has a 1.82 ERA and .190 opponents’ batting average in 29.2 innings pitched. The team is fielding at a .971 clip as well.
• The “magic number” on offense for the Tigers has been 6, as Clemson is 11-0 when it scores at least six runs and 5-6 when scoring five runs or less. Conversely, Clemson is 16-2 when holding its opponents to five runs or less and 0-4 when allowing six runs or more. The Tigers are also 6-2 against top-25 ranked teams, 8-0 when committing no errors, 15-2 at home, and 4-0 in night games.
• Clemson will play its second of five-straight, five-game weeks when it plays a home-and-home series with Georgia on Tuesday (Athens, GA) and Wednesday (Clemson, SC). The Bulldogs are coming off two wins in three games at #10 Arkansas this past weekend. Then the Tigers will travel to Coral Gables to take on Miami (FL) in a three-game series starting Friday at 7:00 PM. Clemson has a league-high 599 ACC regular-season wins in its history.