Winthrop Upsets Clemson

April 4, 2001

Clemson, SC – Jason Colson and Bennett Stapf belted home runs and Ben Thurmond earned his seventh win of the year, leading 28th ranked (Collegiate Baseball) Winthrop to an 8-4 win over 8th-ranked Clemson at Kingsmore Stadium.

Clemson fell to 21-9 for the season. The Tigers will travel to Florida State for a three-game series with the nationally ranked Seminoles this weekend.

Winthrop improved to 27-5-1 for the season, adding Clemson to a growing list of standout college programs it has beaten this year. Winthrop has two wins apiece over Kentucky and Florida, and also has triumphs over Alabama, North Carolina and NC State. Tuesday night’s win was Winthrop’s ninth in a row, and 15th in the 16 games played since March 10th.

Thurmond was outstanding with the exception of the seventh inning when he allowed a three-run homer to Casey Stone. He did not allow Clemson any hits in five of the innings he worked. He struck out eight and walked three in 8 1/3 innings of work.

Colson had two hits and three RBIs on the night, while Stapf had a double and a homer and a pair of RBIs. Josh Ury also had a pair of hits and a walk.

Clemson was led at the plate by Casey Stone, who had a three-run homer and a single, and Ryan Riley, who had two hits. Kyle Frank had a hit and two walks.

Winthrop wasted little time taking a lead. Josh Ury opened the game with a double to left center. One out later Jason Colson hit his team best seventh home run of the season off Tiger starter and loser Patrick Hogan. Hogan, a red-shirt freshman from Columbia, SC was making his first start as a Tiger.

Clemson countered with a run of its own in the bottom of the first. With one out, Kyle Frank and Khalil Greene had back-to-back singles to left field. That brought up Jeff Baker, Clemson’s leader in RBIs for the season, and he delivered a single to right to score Frank.

Winthrop increased its lead to 4-1 with two runs in the third. Todd Leathers opened the inning with a single to center. One out later cleanup hitter Bennett Stapf homered the left field. Stas Swerdzewski followed with a single. Jack Leggett then brought in Kevin Lynn, who finished the inning with consecutive strikeouts.

Lynn allowed just one run over the next five innings. That came in the fourth when Jordan Webb singled, went to second on a sacrifice, to third on a single by Ury and scored on a ground out to short by Leathers.

Lynn had his best outing of the season. Entering the game with an ERA close to 8.0, the native of North Augusta, SC pitched six innings, allowed four hits, two runs, struck out seven and walked none.

Clemson finally got to Thurmond in the bottom of the seventh. Ryan Riley led off with a single and moved to second when Steve Pyzik reached on an error by third baseman Jason Colson. Casey Stone then followed with his first home run of the season, a shot to right field. It was just the second career home run in 193 career games for Stone, his first ever at Kingsmore Stadium.

That brought Clemson to within 5-4, but that was as close as the Tigers could get. Winthrop added three more runs in the top of the ninth to take control of the game. The key hit of the ninth inning rally was a two-run single by catcher Stas Swerdzewski.