Clemson Tallies 17 Hits to Defeat #25 Coastal Carolina 14-5 Tuesday

March 29, 2005

Clemson, SC –

Clemson pounded out 17 hits to defeat #25 Coastal Carolina 14-5 in front of 3,862 fans Tuesday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers won their seventh game in their last eight outings to improve to 13-9, while the Chanticleers fell to 21-5.

David Kopp (2-2) gave up two runs in six innings to earn the win for Clemson. The freshman righthander from Margate, FL allowed six hits and struck out five. Jake Hurry (4-2) did not make it out of the third inning, giving up nine runs (six earned) and 10 hits to take the loss for Coastal Carolina.

The Tigers continued their hot hitting, as Herman Demmink, Tyler Colvin, Travis Storrer, Stan Widmann, and Adrian Casanova all had two hits apiece.

Clemson got on the board in the bottom of the first inning. Taylor Harbin advanced to second base on an error by second baseman Michael DeJesus, which also allowed Demmink, who had reached on a walk, to moved to third base. Colvin hit a double down the third-base line past a diving Mike Costanzo to score Demmink and Harbin. Storrer brought home Colvin with a two-out single to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead.

With two outs and no one on in the bottom of the second, five of the next six batters in the Clemson order hit doubles that plated five runs. David Williams, Demmink, Colvin, Harvey, and Storrer all joined the parade of doubles. The only player not to double was Harbin, who walked.

An RBI sacrifice fly by Harbin in the third pushed the Clemson lead to 9-0.

Harbin’s fourth home run of the season in the fifth meant that for the second time in three games every Tiger starter had at least one base hit.

When Coastal Carolina scored in the sixth it ended a streak of 15 innings in which the Tiger pitching staff did not allow a runner to reach third base. The Chanticleers scored on a two-run single by Danny Morgan.

The Tigers answered in the bottom of the sixth when pinch-hitter Jesse Ferguson singled home Ben Hall, who had tripled. An RBI groundout by Doug Hogan gave the Tigers a 13-2 lead.

Clemson added a single run in the seventh for its biggest lead of the night, but the Chanticleers answered with three runs in the top of the eighth to trim the lead to 14-5.

There was no scoring in the ninth, and the 14 runs by the Tigers marked the third time in four games they scored double-digit runs.

Clemson and Coastal Carolina will conclude the two-game series Wednesday at 4:00 PM at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.