Tigers Host Yellow Jackets This Weekend

April 20, 2001

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Game TimesFriday: 7:15 PM (CTN)Saturday: 7:00 PM (CTN,CSSE)Sunday: 2:00 PM (CTN)

Probable Starting PitchersFriday, April 20: Steve Reba (RHP, 7-1, 2.19 ERA) vs. Steve Kelly (RHP, 6-1, 3.33 ERA)Saturday, April 21: Jarrod Schmidt (RHP, 4-3, 5.29 ERA) vs. Rhett Parrott (RHP, 7-2, 4.96 ERA)Sunday, April 22: Matt Henrie (RHP, 4-2, 3.20 ERA) vs. TBA

Clemson vs. Georgia Tech Friday’s game will be the 164th game played between Clemson and Georgia Tech. Each team has won 80 games in the series while there have been three ties. One team will come out of the weekend ahead in the series.

But series records are not what this weekend’s trio of games are about. The teams are will be battling for the higher seed in the ACC Tournament, May 15-20 in Fort Mill, SC. Clemson sits in second place with an 8-4 (.667) conference record, while the Yellow Jackets are in fourth place with a 9-6 (.600) ACC record. Georgia Tech claimed two of the three meetings with the Tigers during the 2000 regular season and then beat Clemson twice in the ACC Tournament. The second win gave the Yellow Jackets the tournament championship.

The teams are 4-4 over the last eight games though Tech has won eight of the last 12 meetings. In the 163 games of the overall series, Clemson has outscored Georgia Tech 1,044-970. The Tigers are 15-11 against the Yellow Jacketts under head coach Jack Leggett.

Series Flashback:2000 ACC Tournament – Tech Rallies for 9-8 Third Round Win Yellow Jacket Bryan Prince scored on an error in the ninth inning to down Clemson 9-8 in the winner’s bracket of the ACC Tournament at Fort Mill, SC on May 19. Clemson jumped out to a 7-0 lead after three innings thanks to 10 hits. Clemson’s first five batters reached base in the first inning, as Clemson took a 3-0 lead. Clemson added three more runs in the third inning, highlighted by Patrick Boyd’s two-run single. Georgia Tech scored five runs in the sixth inning to make the score 7-6. Mike Calitri hit a solo homer in the seventh to put Clemson up two, but Georgia Tech responded with a run of its own in the bottom of the inning. Down a run entering the ninth, Brad Stockton, who was 3-for-3 with four runs scored, led off with an infield single and Mark Teixeira followed with a double to plate Stockton, but was thrown out at third attempting to stretch it to a triple. After Prince singled and Jason Basil walked, Goffena hit a potential double play ball, but Ryan Riley’s throw was not handled by Calitri at first, and Prince scored all the way from second. Goffena would have been safe if Calitri held on to the ball. Nick Glaser suffered the loss. Casey Stone led the Tigers with three hits, while Khalil Greene added two hits to extend his hitting streak to 17 games. It was just the second time in 33 games last season this season that the Tigers totaled 10 hits or more and lost.

The two teams met again in the championship game, where the Yellow Jackets claimed an 8-4 victory after trailing to the Tigers 4-3.

South Carolina Clinches Tie in Season Series With Tigers No. 16 South Carolina scored in every inning but the first and second on its way to a 9-3 victory against No. 12 Clemson Wednesday night at Sarge-Frye Field in Columbia.

Drew Meyer was 3 for 5 with one RBI and Chris Plummer went 2 for 4 for the Gamecocks with two RBIs as South Carolina moved ahead 2-1 in this season’s four-game series between the two rivals. Gary Bell pitched 6 2/3 innings allowing just two earned runs off five hits and struck out six to improve to 7-4 on the season.

Clemson started the scoring in the top of the third inning, scoring one run without the aid of a hit. Ryan Riley’s walked to start the inning and then was moved over on a sacrifice bunt by Kyle Frank.

Frank was safe on the play, thanks to an error by the first baseman. Riley and Frank were advanced on the second sacrifice bunt of the inning and then Riley scored on the third sacrifice of the inning a fly out to right field.

South Carolina answered in the bottom of the inning with a run of its own. After a walk by Sheldon Brown, Meyer doubled and as Brown rounded third, he tripped on the base. The Gamecocks ended up getting the run after a wild pitch by Tiger starter Matt Henrie. South Carolina took the lead in the fourth inning, scoring twice after stringing three hits with the aid of a walk to take a 3-1 advantage. Plummer made it 5-1 in the fifth inning on a single that scored Michael Floyd and Bryon Jeffcoat. Floyd had reached on a fielder’s choice and Jeffcoat on a single. South Carolina scored one run in the sixth.

Clemson added a pair of runs in the seventh to pull within 6-3. Russell Triplett and Riley each had base hits and then both scored on a double by Frank. South Carolina got the two runs back in the bottom of the inning on a Landon Powell home run that also scored Tripp Kelly, who had walked to start the inning. The Gamecocks took an 8-3 lead through seven and then added the ninth run in the bottom of the eighth.

Henrie got the loss for the Tigers to drop his record to 4-2. Kip Bouknight earned the save for South Carolina, which improved to 30-11. Bouknight threw 2 1/3 innings without allowing a run and recorded four strikeouts against the seven batters he faced. Clemson fell to 26-14 with the loss. The two teams will play again April 25 in Clemson, which will be the fourth and final game between the teams of the season.

South Carolina Tickets On Sale This Weekend Tickets are now on sale for Wednesday’s game against South Carolina. Each reserved ticket is $7 and orders are being taken on a first-come-first-served basis during the Georgia Tech series at Doug Kingsmore Stadium this weekend. Tickets are also available at the Clemson Athletic Ticket Office, which is located at the northwest corner of Memorial Stadium and is open from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. Fans may also call during those hours at 1-800-CLEMSON or (864) 656-2118.

Bradley, Price Awards The Most Valuable Players of the Clemson vs. South Carolina four-game baseball series this year will be presented awards in honor of two legendary figures in each program’s history. Clemson’s Most Valuable Player of the series will be presented the Bob Bradley Award, while South Carolina’s MVP will be presented the Tom Price Award.

The voting will be done by media covering the four-game series. The awards will be presented immediately after the fourth game of the series, which will be played in Clemson on April 25th.

Both gentlemen served their respective schools as sports information director for over 30 years. For the past nine years, Price has served as a consultant for the Gamecocks athletics department in the role of SID emeritus and department historian. Bradley passed away October 30 after a long bout with cancer.

Bradley served the Clemson athletic department for 45 years, 34 as Sports Information Director and 11 in an emeritus capacity. He was presented the Order of the Palmetto by Governor Jim Hodges in October for his service to the state of South Carolina. The native of Randelman, NC was inducted into the Clemson Hall of Fame in 1985 and was presented the Service of Sports Award by the State of South Carolina Hall of Fame.

Bradley was the 1976 recipient of the Arch Ward Award by CoSIDA, which is presented to the Sports Information Man of the Year. He was also inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame. He was a recipient of the Wilbur Snypp Award for excellence in promotion of college baseball.

Tom Price has spent more than half of his life associated with the University of South Carolina. A native of Augusta, GA, Tom served as USC’s Sports Information Director for 31 years, from 1961 until retiring from his post in 1992. Following his retirement from USC, Tom received the Service to Sports Award in 1993 from the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame.

Price was the recipient of CoSIDA’s Arch Wade Award in 1994 and is also a member of that organization’s Hall of Fame. Price also has received the Wilbur Snypp award for excellence in the promotion of college baseball and was chosen to serve as a baseball statistician for the Games of the XXIII Olympiad in LosAngeles in 1984.

Bradley authored three books on Clemson sports, while Price has authored four that deal with South Carolina sports.

Tigers Claim 10-4 Win Over Georgia Clemson used runs in four straight innings to notch a 10-4 victory over Georgia on a cold Tuesday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. With the win the Tigers moved to 26-13 on the year avenged an 8-4 loss to Georgia (24-14) on March 28.

The Bulldogs got on the board first with Kris Edge’s RBI single in the second inning, but Khalil Greene in the bottom of the inning to tie the score. The Tigers then grabbed a 4-1 lead in the third inning and never looked back. A double by Casey Stone and moved Kyle Frank to third base. Frank scored on a wild pitch and Baker scored on the same play after an error by Georgia catcher Doc Brooks.

Two Tiger runs in the fourth inning made it a 6-1 advantage until Georgia responded in the fifth. The Bulldogs loaded the bases with none out and scored off of a sacrifice fly and consecutive RBI singles by David Coffey and Mark Thornhill.

Clemson broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth inning thanks to back-to-back home runs. After a single by Russell Triplett, Michael Johnson hit a towering shot to center field for his 11th home run of the year. When Greene followed with his fifth homer of the year, it marked the third time this season Clemson has hit back-to-back home runs. Steve Pyzik’s RBI single later in the inning gave the Tigers a 10-4 lead.

Coder led the way for the Tigers on offense by going 3-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Clemson collected 13 hits on the evening and all 10 batters reached base.

Pitcher Nick Glaser improved to 4-1 with the win. The righthander relieved starter Kevin Lynn in the fifth inning and pitched 2.1 scoreless innings. Shaun Helmey (1-1) picked up the loss for Georgia.

Tigers Jump in Polls Clemson moved up in two of the three college baseball polls on Monday after going 4-1 in five games last week against Coastal Carolina and Duke. The Tigers are ranked 12th by Baseball America and 13th by Collegiate Baseball, but did not move up in the Baseball Weekly/ESPN coaches poll and are ranked 18th for the second straight week.

The Tigers split two games with Coastal Carolina to start the week. The Chanticleers claimed a 10-5 victory on Tuesday and then gave up five Clemson runs in the bottom of the ninth inning before the Tigers went on to claim an 8-7 win in 11 innings on Wednesday. Clemson then swept the three-game series against Duke over the weekend by scores of 10-1, 10-2 and 6-4.

Clemson plays nine of its next 10 games at home and is facing one of its more challenging weeks of the season beginning Tuesday with a 7:15 PM meeting with Georgia, which is ranked 29th by Collegiate Baseball and 30th by Baseball Weekly/ESPN. Wednesday, the Tigers then travel to Columbia for the third game of the season versus South Carolina. The Gamecocks are ranked 16th by Baseball America, 19th by Collegiate Baseball and 12th by Baseball Weekly/ESPN.

Georgia Tech will be in Clemson this weekend for a three-game ACC series. The Yellow Jackets dropped two of three games this past weekend to Wake Forest and are now fourth in the ACC standings. With Clemson’s sweep of Duke over the weekend, the Tigers are second in the conference. Georgia Tech, the preseason number one in all three polls, is now ranked ninth by Baseball America, 11th by Collegiate Baseball and seventh by Baseball Weekly/ESPN.

Tigers Complete 3-Game Sweep of Duke Clemson scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on its way to a 6-4 victory and a three-game sweep of the Duke Blue Devils Sunday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

Clemson’s three-game sweep coupled with Wake Forest’s 2-1 series win over Georgia Tech vaulted the Tigers from fourth place in the ACC standings on Friday into second place behind only Florida State on Sunday. The Seminoles, who swept Clemson, April 6-8, are 14-1 in first place, followed by Clemson (8-4), Wake Forest (11-7) and Georgia Tech (9-6).

Duke, which had failed to score a run before the fourth inning in either of the two previous games, scored one run in the first inning on Sunday. The Blue Devils added a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning to take a 3-0 lead.

Clemson scored five runs on four hits in the fifth inning to go on top 5-3. Ryan Riley’s was hit by Duke starter Justin Dilucchio. Michael Johnson followed with a single to score Stone and then Khalil Greene doubled to score Riley. Schmidt tied the game with a base hit that scored Johnson. The Tigers added two runs on a throwing error by Alleva at third base.

Duke got one run back in the top of the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Scott Grossi that scored Kevin Kelly, but Clemson added an insurance run in the eighth on a base hit by Riley that scored Steve Pyzik.

Hit Streaks Left fielder Casey Stone had been riding a 14-game hit streak heading into Wednesday night’s game at South Carolina, but the senior went 0 for 3 from the plate with a sacrifice fly in the first inning. He had extended the streak with a 2 for 4 performance Tuesday vs. Georgia, which started March 28 in the team’s first meeting with Georgia. The last time he had gone without a hit was March 27 against Wofford. The longest hit streak of the year was by Jeff Baker, who went 15 straight games with a hit from March 24 until it ended on Sunday with an 0 for 3 outing against Duke.

The only other current hit streak of five games or more: Khalil Greene (7). Michael Johnson had enjoyed a five-game hit streak but he was also 0 for 3 in Columbia on Wednesday.

Big Inning Fuels Offense The Tigers fell in an early hole against Duke on Sunday, trailing 3-0 before a five-run, fifth inning that gave them the lead. It was the fourth time in as many games that Clemson put up five runs in one inning. The Tigers scored five runs in the ninth inning in a come-from-behind extra inning win over Coastal Carolina. Clemson scored five in the fifth inning against the Blue Devils on Friday and then scored five in the first inning on Saturday. Clemson did not score five runs on Tuesday vs. Georgia, but it did provide a four-run fifth inning to make the score 10-4 after the Bulldogs had pulled within 6-4.

The Long Ball Clemson now has 55 home runs as a team this season. The Tigers hit only 37 home runs a year ago, paced by Jeff Baker 11. Fifteen of the 37 homers came at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, while this year Clemson has doubled the total having hit 30 out of Kingsmore Stadium.

With home runs by Jarrod Schmidt (1) against Duke on Friday, the Tigers now have three players with double-digit totals in home runs this season. Clemson joins only two other schools that have three players with double-digit home run totals: Tulane and South Carolina. Johnson and Schmidt join ACC leader Jeff Baker with double figure tallies. Baker went homer-less last weekend to keep his total at 13, which, at the beginning of the week, was tied for the lead in the ACC with Virginia’s Jon Benick. Schmidt had two home runs on Saturday to extend his tally to 12, while Johnson, with one against Georgia, upped his total to 11 for the season. Schmidt entered the week tied for third in the ACC home run race and Johnson was tied for sixth.

Only Jeff Baker had a double-figure total in 2000 with his 11 round-trippers. Clemson had three players in the 1999 season with 10 or more home runs. Patrick Boyd’s led the Tigers that year with 17 home runs, followed by Kurt Bultmann’s 12 and Jason Harris’ 10. Clemson hit 72 homers that season.

With 13 dingers this season, Jeff Baker is still three home runs away from cracking the top-10 list for home runs in a season by a Tiger. Four Tigers, Chuck Baldwin (1986), Ray Williams (1986), Jerry Brooks (1988) and Kurt Bultmann (1997), are tied with 16. The Clemson season record is 24 by Eric Macrina (1991) and Matthew LeCroy (1997). Baker would have to equal is total of 11 last year as a freshman to tie the record.

Seeing Double Clemson has had the same player hit two home runs in the same game eight times this season paced by Jeff Baker four (Richmond, Ohio, Florida State and Coastal Carolina). Michael Johnson has hit two home runs in the same game twice (New York Tech and Duke) and Jarrod Schmidt hit two home runs April 6 at Florida State and again Saturday night vs. Duke.

Back-to-Back First baseman Khalil Greene hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning of Tuesday’s 10-4 win over Georgia. It marked the third time this season that Clemson has launched consecutive home runs. The Tigers did it in the very first game of the year when Jarrod Schmidt hit homers in the bottom of the first against Richmond. Clemson lost the game, however, 10-5. The Tigers did it again in the series finale at Wake Forest as Ryan Riley’s and Schmidt belted blasts in the third inning en route to a 9-1 victory and series win.

Pitching Paces Tigers Clemson had gone 11 straight games without a starter reaching the seventh inning, and that was Friday’s night’s starter vs. Duke when he went 8.0 innings in the win over Wake Forest March 25. Henrie responded against the Blue Devils on Friday. The sophomore pitched 7.0 innings allowing just one unearned run to score on three hits. He also had seven strikeouts. He did not allow a fly out until the sixth inning and has the best fly out to ground out ratio on the team at 0.2. His batters have flied out 13 times, compared to 75 times his batters have grounded out.

On Saturday, Steve Reba struck out a career-high 12 batters to lead Clemson to a 10-1 victory over Duke. 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.

Schmidt got the win on Sunday in 5 1/3 innings allowing just four runs (three earned) off eight hits. He improved to 4-3 on the year and struck out four batters. Schmidt had an even bigger bat in the five games last week. The sophomore hit .455 (10 for 22) with four home runs and 11 RBIs.

Clemson Comeback Clips Coastal Clemson scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game and send it to extra innings, where a Khalil Greene single in the bottom of the 11th gave the Tigers an 8-7 victory against Coastal Carolina Wednesday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

The win snapped a five-game losing skid that equaled the longest for the Tigers under head coach Jack Leggett.

Trailing 7-2 going into the bottom of the ninth inning, Khalil Greene got things started for the Tigers which had mustered just one hit in the first six innings of the game. He singled to right-center field and then scored on Jarrod Schmidt ninth home run of the season to make the score 7-4.

Chad Coder’s then doubled to left field and then Steve Pyzik’s walked. Casey Stone singled to left field and the Chanticleers intentionally walked Jeff Baker to pull Clemson within 7-5. Michael Johnson hit a two RBI single to even the score at 7-7 and send the game to extra innings.

Clemson and Coastal Carolina went scoreless in the 10th and the Chanticleers failed to score in the top of the 11th. Clemson appeared it would not score in the inning when it began with two straight foul outs. Baker drew a walk to begin the threat and then Johnson singled to second base, where Jeff Baker was safe. Greene then sent a shot into shallow left field and it fell to bring home the winning run and give Clemson an 8-7 victory.

Steve Reba, who came on after two outs in the top of the tenth inning, earned the win for the Tigers, upping his record to 6-1 this season. Justin Sturge got the loss for the Chanticleers and fell to 1-3 on the season.

Down, But Not Out The five-run hole was the largest ninth-inning deficit overcome to gain victory since April 14, 1995 when Clemson trailed N.C. State 15-4 in Raleigh. The Tigers came back to score 11 runs and then claimed a 17-15 victory.

Clemson also came back in the ninth inning earlier this season against UNLV. The Tigers trailed 6-4 going into the top of the ninth against the Rebels and responded with six runs in the inning to claim a 10-6 victory.

Clemson has outscored its opponent 71-27 in the final two innings this season, including a 42-16 gap in the eighth inning and a 29-11 margin in the ninth. The 42 runs the Tigers have scored in the eighth inning is second only behind the 50 runs they’ve scored in the second inning.

Leggett Selected for Western Carolina Hall of FameJack Leggett, the winningest baseball coach at Western Carolina with 302 victories in nine seasons (1983-1991), will be inducted into the Western Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame Oct. 12-13. Leggett led the Catamounts to an unprecedented five consecutive Southern Conference Championships and five straight NCAA tournament bids from 1985-89. Two of his teams, 1985 and 1987, finished the season ranked among the nation’s top 30. The 1987 squad reached the NCAA Midwest Regional championship game. Western averaged 33 wins per season during Leggett’s tenure and played in the SoCon Championship game in eight of his nine seasons. In addition to his success on the field 100 percent of the players who completed their eligibility with the Catamounts, received a degree from WCU. Three players earned Academic All-American honors, including two first-team selections.

Greene Sets HBP Records Who is the Ron Hunt of Clemson baseball? The answer is starting shortstop Khalil Greene who believes in getting on base anyway he can. Hunt set many records for being hit by a pitch in his major league career with the Mets and Expos. Greene is establishing records in that area at Clemson.

Greene has already been hit 17 times this season, equaling the single season mark of 17 set by Mike Hampton in 1994 and Gary Burnham in 1995. Greene has now been hit 43 times in his career, an all-time Clemson record. He is just in the middle of his junior year. Burnham owned the all-time record with 39 HBP recorded between 1994-97.

Greene was hit five times in the New York Tech series, including a single game record three times in the first game of the series, a 24-3 win. That included being hit twice in one inning in that game, also a first in Clemson baseball history.

Greene has now been hit by a pitch 17 times and walked 16 times this season. He has a .418 on-base percentage for his 145 at bats. He has not been hit by a pitch since April 7 at Florida State.

Baker Leads ACC in Home Runs Clemson third baseman Jeff Baker is tied for the lead in the ACC with 13 home runs going following the weekend series with Duke. He had 11 homers as a freshman a year ago. The sophomore from Woodbridge, VA has hit two home runs in four games this season, including twice last week. He had a two-home run game April 7 at Florida State and again April 10 against Coastal Carolina.

Baker is second in the league in runs batted in. He has 51 RBIs in 39 games, an average of 1.31 a game. Baker has hovered around .400 all season and but has slipped to .392 to rank fourth in the league behind John-Ford Griffin of Florida State (.477), Victor Menocal of Georgia Tech (.397) and Cory Sullivan of Wake Forest (.397).

With an 0 for 3 performance Sunday vs. Duke, Baker snapped a 15-game hit streak that dated back to the middle game at Wake Forest. He has at least one hit in 30 games this season. He was a perfect 5 for 5 in the win at South Carolina. He had eight RBIs and eight hits and seven runs scored in the three games in the New York Tech series. His best game of the year took place against Ohio University on March 11 when he had a 4 for 4 day and drove in seven runs. He also had a six-RBI game against Richmond in the second game of the year, a contest in which he hit a pair of home runs.

Baker now has 24 home runs for his career. He led the Tigers in that category a year ago with 11. He had 64 RBIs and a .313 batting average last year also.

Reba Leads ACC in ERA Steve Reba is clearly the best pitcher on the Tiger squad this season and is tops in the ACC in ERA. The junior from Fort Wayne, IN has a 7-1 record and a 2.19 ERA, both tops on the club. The seven wins is also the best total in the league. He has gained wins over Richmond, Oregon State, Ohio, Maryland, New York Tech, Coastal Carolina and Duke. He has had more strikeouts than walks in every appearance and has a 59/20 strikeout/walk ratio this year.

Reba had just two starts in 19 appearances last year, but had a 3-0 record with 33 strikeouts and just 15 walks. Prior to his loss April 6 at Florida State he had won nine straight decisions and had not suffered a defeat since May of 1999.

Henrie Most Improved Pitcher The “Where did he come from?” award for Clemson baseball for this year goes to Matt Henrie. The sophomore from Jupiter, FL and Cardinal Newman High School appeared in just five games in 1999 and had an ERA of 13.50. He pitched just 3.1 innings for the season. He red-shirted the 2000 season.

So far this year, Henrie has a 4-2 record and a 3.20 ERA after getting the loss Wednesday night at South Carolina. Prior to Wednesday’s loss, he had won four of his last five starts, victories over Maryland, Wake Forest, New York Tech and Duke. During those wins he allowed just one earned run in 26 1/3 innings, had 23 strikeouts and just seven walks. He gave up three earned runs in 3 1/3 in the 9-3 loss to the Gamecocks.

Henrie was named ACC Pitcher of the Week earlier this year when he shutout Maryland 7-0. He pitched six innings and allowed just three hits, no runs and struck out five of the 25 batters he faced.

Tigers in the ACC Rankings (Entering the Week) Third baseman Jeff Baker leads the ACC in home runs (13) and he is fourth in batting average at .391 with 59 hits in 151 at bats. He is second in total bases (111) and slugging percentage (.735) and is ranked fourth in on-base percentage (.481). Baker is also ranked eighth in hitting (59).

Left fielder Casey Stone is the tied for second in stolen bases in the ACC. The senior has stolen 20 bases, just one behind Adam Greenberg of North Carolina. This season Stone is successful 83.3 percent of the team (20/24). Stone is also ranked fifth among conference hitters with 58 hits this season.

Clemson Wins NY Tech Series 51-3 After a 24-3 win over the New York Institute of Technology on March 30, Clemson claimed 13-0 and 14-0 victories in a doubleheader on March 31. It marked the first time since Feb. 16, 1992 that Clemson won two games by shutout in the same day. Clemson swept Eastern Kentucky, 7-0 and 22-0 at Kingsmore Stadium that day.

Clemson outscored New York Tech 51-3 in the three-game series played over two days. It was the most runs scored in a three-game series by Clemson since 1997 when the Tigers outscored Coastal Carolina 52-16 in a three-game set. The 48-run margin over the three games was the highest combined victory margin in a three-game series since 1969 when Clemson out-scored Buffalo 61-9 in three consecutive games.

Boyd Returns, then Returns to Bench Patirck Boyd played his first game of the season March 11 in the 17-4 win over Ohio University. The senior preseason All-American sat out all of preseason practice and missed the team’s first 13 games of the season with a stress fracture in his back.

Boyd was 1 for 3 with a double and scored two runs against Ohio, but the pain continued and forced him to miss the two games with Georgia Southern. On March 14, he flew with team doctor Byron Harder to Tampa, FL to be checked out by a back specialist, who works primarily with major and minor league baseball players. He is in the fourth week of a five to six week rehabilitation process and is trying to return for the mid-week games against Western Carolina and South Carolina March 24 and 25 (next week).

Boyd was a 1999 All-American and is a 2001 preseason second-team All-American by Baseball America. He is a career .341 hitter with a .442 on-base percentage and 49 stolen bases in three seasons. The senior from Palm Harbor, FL ranks in the school’s career top-10 lists in five different categories, including walks, doubles, runs scored, hits and RBIs.

Riley Named ACC Player of the Week Clemson’s Ryan Riley’s earned ACC Player of the Week honors on Feb. 26 after the Tigers went 3-2 in five games in Las Vegas, NV against UNLV and Oregon State.

Riley, a senior second baseman, earned ACC Player of the Week honors after leading Clemson in a three-game series vs. Oregon State and a two-game series at UNLV. For the week, the Seattle, WA, native notched 11 hits, nine RBIs and a .524 batting average. He finished the five-game stretch with 21 at bats as well as contributing seven runs, three doubles and two home runs. Riley had at least one hit in all five contests and went 3 for 4 on two occasions and missed hitting for the cycle in the finale vs. Oregon State by a triple. He had a single, a double and an inside-the-park home run.