Clemson Overcomes Early Deficit Again to Top Duke 11-6 Saturday

April 9, 2005

Clemson, SC –

Clemson overcame a 3-0 deficit for the second straight night to defeat Duke 11-6 in front of 4,488 fans at Doug Kingsmore Stadium Saturday. The Tigers improved to 17-13 (8-3 ACC), while the Blue Devils fell to 9-25 (1-13 ACC). Clemson won 9-3 in game one Friday and leads the series 2-0.

Robert Rohrbaugh (4-1) pitched 6.2 innings, giving up four runs and nine hits to earn the win. The Littlestown, PA native also struck out six and walked two. Freshman Jimmy Gallagher (0-2), making his first career start, gave up four runs in 3.0 innings pitched to suffer the loss.

Javier Socorro had four hits and scored two runs, as no other Blue Devil totaled more than one hit even though the Blue Devils out-hit the Tigers 11-10. The freshman duo of Taylor Harbin and Brad Chalk led the way offensively for Clemson. Harbin was 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs, while Chalk was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. Adrian Casanova added two doubles and two RBIs as well. The catcher also scored three runs, as no other Tiger scored more than one run.

For the second straight night, Duke opened the scoring in the first inning. Soccoro legged out an infield hit to shortstop. After an Adam Murray walk, Brett Bartles hit an run-scoring single to right field, plating Soccoro from second base. An infield single by Cody Wheeler loaded the bases, and John Berger plated Murray with a sacrifice fly to right field. Bartles was thrown out trying to move to third base on the throw, and Jonathan Nicolla grounded out to third base to end the inning.

Duke added another run in the second inning. The Blue Devils tallied back-to-back singles by J.J. Koterba and Jonathan Anderson. A bizarre play came next, as Rohrbaugh threw to first base as Anderson attempted to steal second. Koterba also broke for home on first movement, and first-baseman Kris Harvey’s errant throw home allowed Koterba to score from third base. Anderson was then thrown out trying to swipe third as well. After two more singles, Bartles flied out to center to end the inning, as Duke could only plate three runs on eight hits in the first three innings.

Clemson got on the board in the bottom of the second inning. Tyler Colvin singled to centerfield, and later moved to second on a Gallagher wild pitch. After advancing to third on a Ben Hall groundout, Colvin scored on Gallagher’s second wild pitch of the inning.

Clemson scored another run in the third inning. Back-to-back walks by Casanova and Herman Demmink put runners on first and second with one out. Chalk hit into a fielder’s choice that moved Casanova to third base. Harbin then singled a 1-2 pitch through the left side to score Casanova and cut the Duke lead to 3-2.

Clemson took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth inning. After two walks and a sacrifice bunt, Clemson had runners on second and third with only one out. Brad Chalk hit a double to center that scored two more runs.

Rohrbaugh gave way to reliever David Kopp with two outs and a runner at third in the seventh. Kopp threw a wild pitch that allowed Socorro to score. On the next pitch, Kopp struck out Wheeler.

The Tigers added to their lead in the bottom of the inning. Chalk led off the inning with a double down the right field line, and Harbin hit a towering home run to left, his fifth of the season.

In the eighth, Casanova hit a double to the right-center field gap to score Widmann from first. Pinch-hitter Jorge Andrade, Jr. then hit his first career home run to right-center.

Duke scored two in the ninth on a two-run triple by Corey Whiting to make the final score 11-6.

Four of Clemson’s runs came from batters who had walked. In the Friday night game, Duke did not walk any Clemson batters.

The Tigers and Blue Devils will conclude the three-game series Sunday at 2:00 PM at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.