Smith, D’Alessio Lead #7 Clemson to 7-4 Win at Duke in First Game Monday

May 8, 2006

Durham, NC –

Eleven hits, including nine for extra bases, and big games from Marquez Smith and Andy D’Alessio propelled #7 Clemson to a 7-4 victory over Duke in the first game of a doubleheader at Jack Coombs Field on Monday afternoon. Smith went 3-for-4 with a homer and two doubles, while D’Alessio hit two solo home runs. The Tigers improved to 34-13 overall, 16-6 in the ACC. Duke fell to 14-34 overall, 6-19 in ACC play.

P.J. Zocchi (4-0) pitched 1.1 scoreless innings in relief to earn the win, while Daniel Moskos pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his eighth save of the season. Starter Josh Cribb pitched 6.2 innings, allowing four hits, four runs (two earned), and two walks with 10 strikeouts. His 10 strikeouts tied a career high. Blue Devil reliever Andrew Wolcott (1-3) suffered the loss, as he allowed three runs on four hits in 2.1 innings pitched.

In the first inning, leadoff batter Jimmy Gallagher laced the first pitch to left-center for a double. Brett Bartles followed with a single up the middle on a 1-2 pitch to move Gallagher to third. A groundout to the pitcher by Nate Freiman advanced Bartles to second. Cribb struck out Javier Socorro for out #2. Jonathan Nicolla then hit a slow roller to shortstop Stan Widmann. The ball rolled under his glove for an error, allowing both runners to score.

Tyler Colvin led off the second inning with a triple down the right-field line and scored on Taylor Harbin’s sacrifice fly to deep centerfield. Two batters later, D’Alessio crushed a solo home run over the scoreboard in right field, his 14th of the season.

In the fourth inning, Socorro hit a one-out, bloop single to right-center. After Nicolla fouled out for out #2, Adam Murray drew a walk on a full-count pitch that just missed the strikezone. Matt Williams then drove both baserunners home on a double to centerfield.

Widmann led off the fifth inning with a double past Murray at third base. After the next two Tigers were retired, Brad Chalk grounded a triple over the first-base bag to score Widmann and cut the Blue Devil lead to 4-3.

In the sixth inning, Smith hit a one-out double down the left-field line, his second two-bagger of the game. After D’Alessio walked and Widmann flew out for out #2, Casanova blooped a single to left field to score Smith and tie the score 4-4.

In the seventh inning, Duke loaded the bases with two outs and in came Zocchi to face Freiman. After falling behind 3-1, Zocchi came back to strike out Freiman swinging on a fastball to end the threat and keep the score tied.

The Tigers came right back and took the lead in the eighth inning when Smith belted a solo homer to left field, his ninth of the season. D’Alessio made it back-to-back homers when he lined a home run down the right-field line, his second long ball of the game and 15th of the season. It was also D’Alessio’s third two-homer game of the season and fifth of his career.

In the ninth inning, Herman Demmink led off with a double to right field and advanced to third on Chalk’s sacrifice bunt. It was the sophomore’s 15th sacrifice bunt of the season, tying the Clemson single-season record that he set as a freshman in 2005. Colvin flew out to shallow left field for out #2. The Tigers then opted to get into a designed rundown, as pinch-runner D.J. Mitchell got into a “pickle” long enough to allow Demmink to score.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Williams battled back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk and Moskos then hit Tim Sherlock to bring the tying run to the plate. Pinch-hitter Ron Causey struck out and Gallagher grounded out for out #2, as the two runners moved up a base. Bartles then grounded out to first base to end the game.

Clemson’s 6-9 hitters combined to go 8-for-15. Gallagher had two of Duke’s five hits in the game.

Clemson and Duke will play game two of the series and doubleheader at approximately 4:00 PM.