Zocchi Leads #3 Clemson To 1-0 Win Over #21 College of Charleston Tuesday

May 16, 2006

Clemson, SC-

P.J. Zocchi pitched a career-high 8.2 scoreless innings to lead #3 Clemson to a 1-0 win over #21 College of Charleston in front of 4,259 fans at Doug Kingsmore Stadium Tuesday. The Tigers reached the 40-win plateau in the regular season for the first time since 2002 and improved to 40-13 overall. The Cougars dropped to 38-13.

Clemson won its 12th game in a row. The two teams combined for just nine hits, including four by the Tigers and five by the Cougars. Adrian Casanova had two hits for Clemson, while Larry Cobb recorded two hits for College of Charleston.

Zocchi (5-0) struck out a career-high eight batters, and allowed five hits and one walk in 8.2 innings to earn the win for Clemson. Daniel Moskos struck out Jess Easterling on three pitches to end the game and earn his ninth save of the season for the Tigers. Clemson pitchers have now held the Cougars scoreless for 29 consecutive innings dating back to 2005, and have recorded three straight shutouts against College of Charleston. Jeff Beliveau (4-3) pitched 7.1 strong innings for the Cougars, allowing one run on four hits, but suffered the loss.

The Tigers scored the game’s only run in the fourth. Marquez Smith walked to lead off the inning, and moved to second on a single up the middle by Tyler Colvin, extending his hitting streak to 12 games. Travis Storrer sacrificed the runners to second and third, and Taylor Harbin walked to load the bases. Andy D’Alessio hit a sacrifice fly to left that was caught in foul territory, but was deep enough to score Smith. Stan Widmann then singled to left, but Colvin was thrown out at the plate by Joey Friddle.

The Cougars threatened in the sixth when Cobb doubled to right-center with one out on a ball that was lost by Clemson outfielders in the twilight sky. Cobb went to third when Chris Campbell reached on error, but Harbin and Widmann made a nice turn on a grounder up the middle by Ben Lasater for a double play to end the inning.

Herman Demmink’s hitting streak came to an end at 13 games, and Brad Chalk’s ended at 10 games.

Clemson returns to action Thursday when it plays host to Wake Forest in the final ACC regular-season series for each team at 7:15 PM at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.