Tigers Tame Texas Tech 7-3 Friday in Lubbock

March 19, 2004

Lubbock, TX –

Jason Berken pitched 6.0 solid innings and Clemson totaled 13 hits in the Tigers’ 7-3 victory at Texas Tech Friday at Dan Law Field. Clemson (8-7) took the first game of the three-game series in a battle of top-20 RPI teams. A crowd of 3,728 fans saw the Tigers become the first ACC team to ever matchup against the Red Raiders (13-7) in Lubbock.

Berken (3-1), a sophomore from De Pere, WI, allowed just four hits and one unearned run in 6.0 innings pitched to earn the win. He also struck out five and walked just one against a team that entered the game hitting .329. Jeff Hahn allowed two runs on two hits in 3.0 innings of relief to earn his first save of the season. Texas Tech starter Steven Thomas (2-2) suffered the loss.

After the two starting pitchers dominated the first four innings, Clemson struck first in the fifth inning. Russell Triplett started things off with a one-out double down on the left-field line. Herman Demmink followed with a run-scoring single up the middle and advanced to second on a fielding error. Garrick Evans followed with another single up the middle, moving Demmink to third base. Then, Evans stole second, and the ball got away and allowed Demmink to score from third. After Tony Sipp walked, Travis Storrer laced a run-scoring single to right to plate Evans. The hit extended Storrer’s hitting streak to 11 games. Clemson added its fourth run of the inning when Storrer got into a “pickle,” but stayed alive long enough to allow Sipp to score from third.

The Tigers added three more runs in the seventh inning. Storrer lined a one-out single to left-center and Brad McCann followed with a double down the left-field line to move Storrer to third. After Lou Santangelo struck out, Storrer scored on a wild pitch. Then, Brady Everett followed with a run-scoring double to left-center. Everett hit the 2-2 pitch after being down 0-2 in the count. Pinch-hitter John Ingram then gave Clemson a 7-0 lead when he hit a ground-ball double down the left-field line.

Texas Tech threatened to cut a huge chunk into the Tiger lead in the seventh inning, but some clutch pitching by reliever Hahn held the Red Raiders to just one run. After Hahn walked the bases loaded then walked the first run in, Texas Tech still had the bases loaded and no outs. But the Winchester, VA native struck out the next two Red Raiders and got Cameron Blair to ground out to end the inning.

Brady scored for the second time in the game in the eighth inning when he hit a solo home run just inside the left-field foul pole. It was his seventh homer of the year.

The Red Raiders mounted another comeback in the ninth inning. Jacob Jones led off with a double off the wall in left field, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on an RBI groundout by Madison Edwards. But Hahn struck out Cody Fuller and got pinch-hitter Marcus Lewis to groundout to end the game.

McCann led the Tigers with a 3-for-4 performance. Storrer, Triplett, and Demmink added two hits apiece to pace the Tigers’ 13-hit attack. Brady had three of Texas Tech’s six hits.

Clemson and Texas Tech will play game two of the series at Dan Law Field Saturday at 3:00 PM EST.