No. 1 Baseball Hosts The Citadel This Weekend For Three-Game Series

March 23, 2000

CLEMSON, S.C. – Top-ranked Clemson (20-3) plays host to The Citadel (17-6) on Friday (7:15), Saturday (7:00), and Sunday (2:00) at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The games are the last of Clemson’s 23-game homestand, in which the Tigers are 18-2 so far. The Clemson Sports Network will broadcast all three games.

Clemson leads the all-time series 79-18 dating back to 1900. The two teams last met on March 3, 1999 at Clemson. The Citadel rallied for an 18-15 win.

The Citadel, led by ninth-year Head Coach Fred Jordan, is coming off a 16-7 loss at Georgia on Wednesday evening. Catcher Jay Morgan went 4-for-4 with a double, triple, and three RBIs in the game. The Bulldgos had won six in a row and 11 of 12 before the loss. Four of The Citadel’s six losses have been by two runs or less.

The Citadel, who is 2-3 on opponents’ home fields, is led at the plate by sophomore third baseman Dallas McPherson, who is hitting .435 with four homers, 14 doubles, and 28 RBIs. Junior first baseman Philip Hartig is hitting .432 with four homers and 35 RBIs. Outfielder Daryl Byrd (.372) and second baseman Tavy Smalls (.344) are also having productive seasons. The Citadel is hitting .337 as a team and has a .952 fielding percentage.

The Bulldogs have stolen 95 bases in 111 attempts, led by outfielder Chris Morris with 32 in 36 attmepts. Shortstop Michael Harris (20-21) and Smalls (13-14) have also contributed to the Bulldogs’ 4.1 stolen bases per game.

On the mound, The Citadel sports a 3.29 ERA and a .244 opponent batting average. The staff has allowed just four home runs and has a 3.7 strikeout-to-walk ratio. McPherson (5-0, 2.66 ERA), a righthander, is slated to start game one. McPherson has allowed 36 hits and nine walks while striking out 41 in 44.0 innings. Senior righthander Kyle Bunn (3-2, 4.15 ERA) will start game two and senior righthander Ron Colvard (5-0, 2.30 ERA) will start game three. The three have a combined record of 13-2 and 3.02 ERA. Senior righthander Jay Morgan has six saves and a 3.86 ERA as the Bulldogs’ closer.

Clemson will counter with senior righthander Scott Berney (6-0, 0.80 ERA) in game one, freshman righthander Jarrod Schmidt (2-0, 1.55 ERA) in game two, and senior righthander Ryan Mottl (5-0, 1.19 ERA) in game three. The three have a combined 13-0 record and 1.13 ERA.

At the plate, freshman shortstop Jeff Baker leads the team with a .356 batting average, including eight hits in his last 13 at bats over three games. He also has scored six runs and driven in seven runs in the last three games.

Tigers and Yellow Jackets Tied for First Place in ACC Standings With Clemson’s ACC opening three-game sweep of Maryland, Clemson sits atop the ACC standings along with Georgia Tech at 3-0. Florida State and N.C. State are a half game out of first, each with 4-2 records in conferene play. Wake Forest is fifth at 3-3 and Virginia is sixth at 1-2. North Carolina, Duke, and Maryland all have 0-3 ACC records. Clemson is the only ACC team to play out of conference this weekend. N.C. State is at North Carolina, Wake Forest is at Virginia, Maryland is at Florida State, and Duke plays at Georgia Tech. Clemson plays host to The Citadel, and then plays an ACC team in seven consecutive weekends.

Tigers 18-2 on Homestand Clemson, who is in the midst of a 23-game homestand, is 18-2 in the 20 games so far. Clemson will face The Citadel three times this weekend to conclude the month-and-a-half long homestand. Clemson will play a single game at Georgia on Mar. 29 and then travel to Chapel Hill for three games from March 31 to April 2. Then Clemson will have an 11-game homestand. Clemson has not been on the road since the ACC Disney Blast in late January.