Seminoles Clinch ACC Championship With 9-3 Win

May 19, 2002

CLEMSON, SC – Florida State scored in all but two innings and defeated Clemson 9-3 Sunday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The second-ranked Seminoles (51-12 overall, 18-6 ACC) swept the top-ranked Tigers (44-12 overall, 16-8 ACC), the first team to do so this season, to win the ACC regular season championship. Florida State outscored Clemson 30-9 in the series’ three games.

Marc LaMacchia (9-1) got the win for the Seminoles, pitching six innings and allowing three runs and six hits while striking out three and walking two. Daniel Hodges pitched three scoreless innings to earn his eighth save. Tyler Lumsden (2-1) suffered his first career loss after yielding seven runs in five innings.

Tony McQuade started the scoring in the opening frame by taking the first pitch he saw from Lumsden over the fence in left for a 1-0 lead. It was the first long ball given up by Lumsden this season and the first run given up to an ACC opponent. Greene answered in the bottom of the first with a home run down the line in left, his 21st of the season. The solo shot knotted the game at one and extended Greene’s hitting streak to 22 games, which is tied for the fourth longest in school history.

Tony Richie doubled in the Florida State second and scored later in the inning on a double steal attempt. In the third inning, Stephen Drew sent a ball deep to right that Jarrod Schmidt reached out and grabbed just as it was clearing the fence. The Seminoles did get three runs with two outs in the inning off of Ryan Barthelemy’s RBI-single and Blair McCaleb’s two-run homer that pushed the lead to 5-1.

Florida State tacked on another run in the fourth inning before Clemson answered with a run in the fifth. Steve Pyzik doubled to start off the inning and scored on Kyle Frank’s groundout to cut the deficit to 6-2. Florida State came back in the sixth inning with a leadoff home run by Richie that knocked Lumsden out of the game and gave FSU a 7-2 advantage.

Richie added another home run in the seventh inning, his fourth of the series, for an 8-2 lead. Clemson scored on Roberto Valiente’s single in the seventh, but would get no closer.Florida State added a run in the eighth to make the final margin 9-3.

Schmidt led the offense as the only Tiger with two hits. Sunday’s game marked final regular season game for Jon Smith, Seth Miller, Thomas Boozer, Steve Reba and Greene, who were all honored before the game as a part of Senior Day.

Clemson will next travel to St. Petersburg, FL, for the first round of the double-elimination ACC Tournament. The Tigers will be the fourth seed and play Wednesday at 10:00 AM against Georgia Tech.