Johnson, Henrie Lead Tigers To Victory Over Duke

April 13, 2001

Clemson, S.C. – Michael Johnson hit two home runs and a double, and Matt Henrie allowed just one unearned run in seven innings of work to lead Clemson to a 10-2 win over Duke in ACC baseball action Friday night. The 17th-ranked Tigers improved to 23-13 overall, 6-4 in the ACC with the win, while Duke fell to 17-22 overall, 5-7 in the ACC.

Clemson wasted little time in taking control of the game. In fact, Clemson had a 5-0 lead by 7:30 PM, just 15 minutes into the game. Casey Stone and Kyle Frank led off the bottom of the first inning with consecutive singles. One out later Johnson hit a long home run to right field to give Clemson a 3-0 advantage.

Clemson continued the onslaught with the next hitter as Khalil Greene singled. It was the fourth straight hit over two games for Greene, who had singled home the winning run against Coastal Carolina on Wednesday afternoon. That brought up Jarrod Schmidt and the sophomore responded with his 10th home run of the season, a blast to left center.

Clemson added another run in the third on a leadoff home run by Johnson. That was his 10th home run of the season in just 114 at bats. He had 10 total bases for the evening. He later added a double and finished 3-5 at the plate.

Clemson made the count 10-0 with four more runs in the fourth. Casey Stone tripled to lead off the inning. He scored when Kyle Frank fly ball to left was misplayed. Baker followed with a single. That brought up Johnson, who promtly doubled home Frank, his fifth RBI of the night. Khalil Green followed with a sacrifice fly to score Baker. Schmidt then singled in Johnson with the fourth run of the frame.

While Clemson was building a 10-0 lead, Henrie was holding the Blue Devil bats in abeyance. He did not allow a run and gave up just one hit over the first five innings. In fact, Duke failed to hit the ball out of the infield in the first five innings. Henrie had allowed just 12 fly ball outs all year entering this evenings game. Overall, Henrie allowed just three hits and one unearned run in his seven innings. He struck out seven and did not walk a batter in improving to 4-1 for the season. Three of his four wins are against ACC teams, the high figure on the club.

Duke scored its first run in the sixth. Scott Grossi reached on an error, went to second on J.D. Alleva’s single and scored on another error. The Blue Devils added another run in the bottom of the eighth on a walk, two hits and a fielder’s choice.

In addition to Johnson’s three hits and five RBIs, the Tigers got three hits from Stone, two hits from Jeff Baker, two hits from Khalil Greene and two hits and three RBIs from Schmidt. Duke got a pair of hits from J.D. Alleva and right fielder David Mason. Duke starter Ryan Caradonna went six innings, gave up 14 hits and nine earned runs. He took the loss and fell to 4-8 for the season.