Clemson Blanks #6 South Carolina 8-0 Saturday

March 1, 2003

CLEMSON, SC – Clemson jumped out to an early first inning lead and never looked back, defeating #6 South Carolina 8-0 on Saturday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Tyler Lumsden, a sophomore lefthander from Roanoke, VA, pitched a solid game for the 18th-ranked Tigers. With the win, Clemson improves to 3-2 while South Carolina falls to 8-2.

Lumsden (2-0), one of only two lefties on the Tiger baseball team, pitched 7.1 shutout innings, while striking out 11 and walking only one. The 11 strikeouts eclipsed his previous career high of nine, which came against N.C. State in last year’s ACC Tournament. Lumsden’s performance came against a South Carolina team that was batting .336 collectively entering the game.

Clemson got off to a strong start in the first inning. Garrick Evans led off with a single through the left side. Gamecock starter Matt Campbell then hit Ryan Hub with a pitch. Following a wild pitch by Campbell and a walk to Tiger first baseman Brad McCann plated Evans with a sacrifice fly to left field.

The scoring continued in the first when Roberto Valiente singled to right field. Gamecock right fielder Nick Gardiner misplayed the ball, and Hub and Johnson were able to score. Russell Triplett capped off the scoring with a sacrifice fly to center field that brought Valiente home to make it 4-0. In five games so far this season, Clemson has outscored its opponents 12-0 in the first inning.

Clemson got on the board again in the fourth inning. Triplett led off the inning with a double to right field. Catcher Collin Mahoney followed that with a single up the middle. Triplett scored to extend the lead on a groundout to first by Kyle Frank. Mahoney later scored on a single by Hub, stretching the Tiger lead to 6-0.

Clemson added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Triplett led off the inning with his second double of the game, and was brought home by Kyle Frank single up the middle. Frank later scored on a fielding error by Gamecock third baseman Brian Buscher.

Clemson did most of its damage off of Campbell (1-1), who gave up five earned runs and walked four in 3.2 innings of work.

Russell Triplett led the Tigers offensively with two hits, a sacrifice fly and two runs scored. The West Columbia native entered the game with only one career hit in 14 at-bats against the Gamecocks.

These two teams will meet again Sunday in Columbia. The game will be held at Sarge Frye Field and will begin at 1:30 p.m.