North Carolina Blanks Baseball 4-0

April 29, 2001

CLEMSON – North Carolina pitcher Scott Autrey limited the Clemson offense to four hits as the Tar Heels defeated the Tigers 4-0 Sunday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Clemson’s record dropped to 31-17 overall and 12-6 in the ACC while the Tar Heels improved to 27-23 overall, 7-14 in the ACC.

Autrey (2-3) struck out six over nine innings and did not allow a Tiger runner to reach third base. He outdueled Clemson starter Steve Reba (8-3), who struck out five over 8.1 innings but was credited with all four earned runs.

Both pitchers dominated early and combined to allow only five hits in the first seven innings. North Carolina threatened to score in the fifth inning when Russ Adams doubled, advanced to third with only one out and then attempted to steal home plate after a pitch got past Tiger catcher Seth Miller. Miller recovered in time to toss the ball to Reba, who was covering the plate and tagged out the sliding Adams.

The Tar Heels finally got to Reba with a two-out rally in the eighth inning. Ron Braun and Brandon Russell singled and then scored when Adam Greenberg doubled to left field. Clemson attempted a two-out rally of its own in the bottom of the inning after singles by Russell Triplett and Miller. The inning ended, however, after Casey Stone’s ground ball was fielded by first baseman Jason Howell and flipped to Autrey for the putout.

North Carolina padded its lead in the ninth with a pair of runs. Ralph Roberts doubled and scored after a single by Howell that also knocked Reba out of the game. Chad Prosser plated Howell off of reliever Josh Cram and Autrey retired Clemson in order in the bottom of the inning to seal the victory.

The Tigers will be off the next five days for final exams and will return to action next Saturday at N.C. State. The teams will play a day-night doubleheader at 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Both games can be heard on the Clemson Tiger Network. The first game will be telecast by ACC Television on Fox Sports South.