Tigers Top #1 South Carolina 3-2 Wednesday

April 5, 2006

Columbia, SC –

Daniel Moskos pitched 3.1 scoreless and hitless innings to close out the game and lead #7 Clemson to a 3-2 victory over top-ranked South Carolina in front of 5,782 fans at Sarge Frye Field on Wednesday night. Clemson turned a line drive off the bat of Michael Campbell into a 4-6, game-ending double play with the tying run on second base in the ninth inning.

The Tigers took a 2-1 series lead, as the two will play the last of four regular-season games in 2006 next Wednesday at 7:00 PM at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Clemson improved to 21-8 overall, while the Gamecocks fell to 26-4.

Clemson ended South Carolina’s 20-game home winning streak and upped its record against top-25 ranked teams to 11-3 in 2006. It was also the Gamecocks’ first loss of the season in 18 games when not committing an error in the field.

Moskos (2-4) pitched the final 3.1 innings without allowing a hit or run to earn the victory. He also walked one and struck out two, and faced the minimum 10 batters. Starter Alex Martin, David Kopp, and Moskos combined to allow just one hit in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position. Gamecock reliever Conor Lalor (0-1) suffered the loss, as he allowed one run in 1.1 innings pitched.

Tyler Colvin had a game-high three hits, including two doubles, to lead the Tigers’ 10-hit attack. Brad Chalk and Adrian Casanova added two hits apiece. All three of Clemson’s runs were scored with two-out hits. South Carolina, who had eight hits, was led by Neil Giesler’s 2-for-4 game. Campbell also extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a first-inning single.

Herman Demmink led off the game with an infield single to second base and went to second on Chalk’s groundout to second. After Taylor Harbin advanced Demmink to third on a line drive to left, Colvin hit a two-out double to right field to plate Demmink.

The Gamecocks tied the score in the fourth inning when Robbie Grinestaff led off the frame with a solo homer to left-center, his 10th of the season.

A two-out rally gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning. Colvin hit his second double of the game to right field with two outs, then Andy D’Alessio fisted a single to left field to score Colvin. It was D’Alessio’s first career RBI against the Gamecocks in his 11th game (10th start) against the in-state rival. It was also his team-leading 40th RBI of the season.

South Carolina came right back and tied the score in the bottom of the sixth. Justin Smoak drew a one-out walk and went to third on Mark Stanley’s single up the middle. Chalk’s throw into the infield was high, allowing Stanley to advance to second on the error. Cheyne Hurst followed with a single through the right side to score Smoak and Stanley went to third. After Hurst moved up on a wild pitch, Kopp struck out Chris Brown for out #2. In came Moskos, who got Campbell to ground out to short to end the inning.

Another two-out rally gave the Tigers the lead back in the seventh inning. Travis Storrer led off with a single through the right side. After neither Stan Widmann nor Casanova could move up Storrer on a sacrifice bunt, Demmink walked with two outs. Then Chalk dumped a single to right-center to plate Storrer, giving Clemson a 3-2 lead.

In the bottom of the ninth, Hurst led off with a walk after being down 1-2 in the count. Brown advanced Hurst to second with a sacrifice bunt, then Campbell hit a sharp liner. But it was right at Harbin at second base, who made the catch and tossed the ball to Widmann for the game-ending double play.

Clemson will play host to Maryland in a three-game series starting Friday at 7:15 PM.