Ninth-Inning Heroics Gives Clemson Baseball Win Over Florida State

May 7, 2000

CLEMSON, SC — Clemson leadoff hitter Casey Stone singled to score Brian Holstad in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the eighth-ranked Tigers a 5-4 win over No. 2 Florida State Saturday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

Calitri led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, breaking a 2-for-21 slump. Brian Holstad pinch-ran for Calitri and advanced to second on a “head’s up” advancement on a wild pitch. Justin Singleton singled off Mike DiBlasi to send Calitri to third with no outs. It was just his fourth at bat against a lefty all season and his first hit against a Southpaw. Stone’s line-drive single to right field then scored Holstad for the one-run win.

It was Clemson’s third straight win, all by one runs. Clemson downed #5 Georgia Tech 13-12 last Sunday and the Seminoles 8-7 on Saturday. Clemson improved to 7-2 in one-run games.

The victory clinched the series against Florida State and moved Clemson alone into second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Clemson is a game-and-a-half behind first place Georgia Tech, who is 16-5 in conference play.

The Tigers struck first with four runs in the second inning. Brian Ellis walked between outs to start the inning, but that was enough to start the Clemson scoring. Singleton singled and then Stone knocked in Ellis. Patrick Boyd scored Singleton on a single. Boyd stole second and then Khalil Greene singled in both Stone and Boyd. Jeff Baker popped up to centerfield to end the inning with the Tigers leading 4-0. Greene entered the game for Clemson batting 14-of-28 in the last six games. He finished 3 for 3 Sunday vs. the Seminoles.

Chris Smith led off the third inning for the Seminoles with a double and then scored on another double by John-Ford Griffin. Florida State scored another pair of runs in the fifth on a Karl Jernigan single. He scored Griffin and Marshall McDougall.

After Clemson starter Ryan Mottl was helped by three consecutive outs in the sixth and another to start the seventh, he walked McDougall. Steve Reba, who got the save in game one Saturday night after striking out the only batter he faced in the ninth, replaced Mottl on the mound. McDougall stole second and then advanced to third after Reba got Ryan Barthelemy to ground out to second, but a wild pitch to Jernigan scored McDougall to even the score 4-4.

Reba was able to set up the Tigers’ ninth inning by sitting down six consecutive batters in the eighth and ninth. Reba improved to 2-0 on the year. Chris Whidden, who gave up the Calitri single in the ninth, was tagged with the loss and lowered his record to 1-2.

Clemson improves to 39-12 and 14-6 in the ACC while Florida State falls to 41-11 and 13-7 in conference action.

The Tigers beat the Seminoles 8-7 in the series opener Saturday night. The series between Clemson and Florida State concludes Monday night at 7:00 PM.