Reba, Schmidt Lead Tigers over Duke

April 14, 2001

Clemson, SC– Steve Reba struck out a career high 12 batters and Jarrod Schmidt socked a pair of homers and drove in five runs to lead Clemson to a 10-1 victory over Duke Saturday night at Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers improved to 24-13 overall, 7-4 in the ACC, while Duke fell to 17-23 overall, 5-8 in the ACC.

Clemson won the first meeting of the series 10-2 on Friday night. The third game of the series will be played Sunday afternoon at 2:00 PM.

Reba went six innings, allowed just two hits and one run. He struck out 12 and walked just three. His strikeout total was the high mark by a Clemson pitcher since Ryan Mottl had 12 in a loss to Virginia on April 4, 1998. Reba gained his second victory this week and is now 7-1 for the season. He is tied for the ACC lead in pitching victories.

One of the players tied with Reba in that win column is Duke starter Kevin Thompson. Clemson lowed Thompson’s record to 7-3 by touching him up for seven earned runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Schmidt provided the offense with a pair of home runs, the eighth time this year a Clemson batter has had two home runs in the same game. Michael Johnson accomplished the feat in the first game of the series with Duke on Friday night. Schmidt had two homers and a single in four plate appearances and drove in five runs on Saturday night.

Khalil Greene also supplied support as Clemson’s starting shortstop had three hits and a walk and scored three runs. Greene now has eight hits in his last three games.

Clemson scored one run in the bottom of the first without the benefit of a base hit. Casey Stone was Clemson’s first batter and he reached second when Duke shortstop Kevin Kelly fielded his grounder, but overthrew first baseman Adam Loftin. Stone then advanced to third on a fly ball by Kyle Frank. Jeff Baker then scored Stone with a sacrifice fly.

Duke tied the game in the top of the fourth. Bryan Smith led off the inning with Duke’s first hit, a double to right center. J.D. Alleva followed with a single, moving Smith to third. One out and two batters later, Kevin Kelly hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield, scoring Smith.

Clemson added two more runs in the fourth. Greene singled with one out and scored when Schmidt hit an opposite field home run to right center.

Clemson broke the game open in the fifth with five runs, Clemson’s third five-run inning in the last 17 innings. With one out, Stone lofted his second home run of the season over the right field fence. It was just his second home run in four years at Kingsmore Stadium.

Clemson continued to put runs on the board in the frame. Kyle Frank and Jeff Baker followed Stone’s heroics with consecutive singles, then Michael Johnson was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Greene walked to score one run, then Schmidt singled in a run to give Clemson a 6-1 lead. Ryan Riley then knocked in two more runs with a single to center.

Clemson made the count 10-1 when Greene and Schmidt duplicated their feats of the fourth inning. Greene singled and was followed by Schmidt’s 12th home run of the year, this time to dead center.

J.D. Alleva was the only Duke player to register a pair of hits. Clemson’s pitching staff struck out 14 Blue Devils, the high total for the Clemson staff in a single game since April 19 of last year when Clemson struck out 14 South Carolina batters.