Tigers Win Second in a Row Over #4 Georgia Tech by a 10-5 Score Saturday Night

April 26, 2003

Clemson, SC – Clemson beat Georgia Tech 10-5 Saturday night in front of a season high 5,328 fans at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers take a 2-0 lead in the series after earlier defeating the Yellow Jackets 9-7 in the completion of Friday’s suspended game.

Clemson improves to 30-13, 7-7 in the ACC while Georgia Tech drops to 32-10 and 11-3 in the ACC.

Patrick Hogan (2-2) pitched a career-high 8.0 innings to earn the victory for the Tigers. The Columbia, SC native struck out a career high eight batters while walking only two. Chris Goodman (6-2) suffered the loss for the Yellow Jackets.

The Tigers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. Russell Triplett walked, advanced to third on Kyle Frank.

Georgia Tech cut the lead in half in the second when Mike Nickeas doubled down the left field line and later scored on Steven Blackwood’s grounder to second.

Clemson tacked on three more runs in the fourth inning. Jeff Hourigan led off with a single up the middle. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Herman Demmink’s double down the right field line. Demmink went to third on another wild pitch and then scored when Brady Everett singled to right center. Two batters later, Everett scored on Johnson’s single to left.

The Tigers increased the lead to 6-1 in the fifth when Kyle Frank was hit by a pitch and later scored on David Slevin’s single to left field.

Georgia Tech cut the lead to 6-2 in the sixth on Matt Murton’s 12th homerun of the season. The Yellow Jackets then put runners on second and third with no outs, but Hogan struck out the next three batters to end the threat.

Clemson scored another run when Everett singled to lead off the sixth and later scored on a wild pitch.

Georgia Tech narrowed the Tiger’s lead to three runs in the seventh inning when Tyler Greene was hit by a pitch, stole second, and then scored on Murton’s single up the middle after a walk to Eric Patterson. Murton and Patterson moved up when Triplett muffed the throw of a potential groundout. Patterson then scored on a Mike Nickeas’ sacrifice fly to left.

The Tigers gained a run back in their half of the seventh on Ryan Hub’s fourth homerun of the season.

Clemson added two more runs in the eighth and Georgia Tech scored a run in the ninth for a final of 10-5.

The final game of the series will played Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.