Yesterday afternoon’s game became last night’s game. The first pitch was more than an hour behind the scheduled 4PM start time. So I was quite surprised when I turned on the TV around 9PM and found the game still on and in the 12th inning. I’m glad I kept watching.

The 12th ended without much excitement, all tied at 3.

Miami was able to get things going in the top of the 13th. “Tomas led off with a double to left-center” that was more like a bloop single with a fielding error, “and went to third on a passed ball.” Yonder Alonso then knocked Tomas in on a sac-fly to center. Tomas, in case you didn’t know is fast. Very, very fast.

Then Clemson got fired up in the bottom of the inning. Doug Hogan hit a single that the shortstop just kinda gave up on. With Hogan on first, the hit-and-run was on but DJ Mitchell could only muster a pop-foul to the first baseman. 1 out. Addison Johnson drew a walk as the light rain and fatigue were starting to bother the Miami pitcher. With runners on 1st and 2nd, JD Burgess hit a high bouncer over the first baseman’s head and into right field, bringing Hogan home and moving Mitchell to 3rd. Brad Chalk was given the intentional walk to load the bases and open up the force out at home. Miami decided to bring in a new pitcher to face the left-handed Alex Lee. “I wonder if he’ll bunt it,” I told my girlfriend. Sure enough. Lee caught Miami off guard as he squared on the 0-1 pitch and hit a solid bunt past the pitcher on the left side where no one, and I mean no one, had a chance to field it. “And,” to borrow from Marty Brennaman, “this one belongs to the Tigers!”

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week the baseball team took the series from Florida State in Tallahassee. Tuesday they pounded College of Charleston. Then they returned to form and lost 2 in-a-row to NC State. They won the third game but I’m pretty sure there is no chance for Clemson to host a regional this year. The next game is against Miami in the ACC Tournament on Wednesday at 4. They play Wake at 4 on Friday and FSU on Saturday. This year the Tournament has been modified to be an 8-team round-robin format. Clemson is seeded #4.

The golf team played in the East Regional where the top 10 teams would advance. The Tigers tied for 10th but faltered in the playoff. In other words, season over. On the upside, Kyle Stanley finished tied for 3rd.

And current Jets player Justin Miller was arrested. Apparently, he was involved in a brawl with 3 other men. When he went to punch of them, he missed and instead struck a woman standing nearby. He was charged with 3rd Degree assault.

After a Friday night shellacking, the baseball team rallied over the weekend to take the series from the ACC leading and #2 ranked Florida State Seminoles.

Friday night, the Tigers were pitiful as they fell 11-1. It was ugly and it looked like Florida State was going to roll to an easy series victory. But it was not to be.

On Saturday, the ‘Noles went up 6-1 after 3 innings. But the Tigers were good for 2 in the 5th, 1 in the 6th, and then for 3 runs in the top of the 9th. Combined with a solid relief effort from Alan Farina went on to a narrow 7-6 win.

Today was a different story. Clemson jumped out to a 3-0 to start the game. The teams traded runs in the 4th. Then the Tigers got the bats going again in the top of the 6th while racking up 4 runs. And that was all they would need as they went on to win 11-6. DJ Mitchell got the start and went 6 innings while giving up just 5 hits and 4 ER. Stephen Clyne got the save as the Tigers went on to claim the series and hand the ‘Noles their 9th loss and first series loss of the season.

Outstanding effort, Tigers!

Last night the baseball team avoided being swept on the season by USCe. And they did it in grand fashion by whooping the shit out of them, 14-5.

Sadly, I just haven’t been keeping up with the team as much as I did last year. Chalk it up to being busy I guess. I also can’t disagree with DFIG:

it’s time to start accepting the fact that we just aren’t as good as we were this time last year. We’re not playing poorly, a lot of other teams are just having outstanding seasons.

So goes college baseball in the ACC. We still have series left against GT, BC, FSU, and NCSU before the tournament. I don’t even know how good any of those teams are. And in all honesty, I’m so out of it that I thought the tournament started in a week or two. But hopefully we can build some momentum and I can find the time to tune into more games.

• The baseball team had gained some momentum before the Hurricanes came to town. That momentum is now gone, as the ‘Canes took the first and the third games of the series. Sunday’s Game 3 score was 7-6.
• The 8th ranked women’s tennis team went to Chapel Hill and kicked some baby blue ass this weekend. The #13 Tar Heels lost 6-1.
• Men’s tennis, on the other hand, lost on Friday to #2 Virginia 5-2. And they also lost to Virginia Tech 4-3. The lesson to be learned is that people from Clemson just don’t belong in Virginia.
• The bad news continues on into the world of men’s golf. The team finished 10th at the Administaff ASU Invitational. Coastal was first, UNC was 2nd. USCe finished 4th. The team did finish 8 shots better than 15th place USC-Aiken.

And for the golf team alumni at the Shell Houston Open:

• Lucas Glover missed the cut.
• J. Byrd earned $66,660 by finishing tied for 19th at -8.
• Matt Hendrix had three solid and one “oh my god what happened” rounds en route to winning $34,100 and finishing at -5.
• Charles Warren fared less well, but still made the cut. He finished tied for 66th at 2 over. His check was for $11,300.
• Finally, DJ Trahan finished all alone in the 8th spot. He was 10-under for the weekend and 11-under for the tournament. That performance was worth $170,500.

It may be worth noting that the 5 golfers above combined to win $282,500. I’m fairly certain they won more in a weekend that all the Gnomes make combined in a year. Which all goes to show that the time spent in the classroom would have been better spent harassing the cart girl.

I’m pretty sure that’s what Doug Kingsmore Stadium sounded like last night. The team had 15 runs on 16 hits for a solid 9-run win over Western Carolina.

• The women’s tennis team is doing a good job of avoiding the rankings curse that befell the football and basketball teams. They are currently eighth in the Fila/ITA Tennis poll; they’ve stayed in the top 10 for 4 straight weeks. They have six remaining league matchups before the ACC Championships begin April 19th.
• Justin Miller showed some of the basketball players around New York City. Miller is close friends with Vernon Hamilton. Players also went to a Brazilian restaurant, which was recommended by Oliver Purnell’s daughter, Olivia. Yes. Oliver named daughter Olivia. Not cool. Although the name Olivia is not as bad as some of the names in my family tree; I recall seeing the name Jacobina.
• Speaking of the basketball team, they beat Air Force by a point to move on to the NIT finals. More on that later.
• Gardner-Webb gave little resistance to the baseball team last night. The Tigers blitzkrieged the Bulldog defenses en route to a decisive 14-2 win.
• “Clemson’s sixth-ranked men’s golf team will be back in action for the first time in 19 days when the Tigers start action Friday at the Administaff Augusta State Invitational in Augusta, GA. The Tigers are one of 18 teams who will compete for the title on the par 72 Champions Retreat Course that is 7,265 yards in length.”

• Coach Leggett finally reached the 1,000 win milestone. David Kopp threw seven scoreless innings and the Tiger bats struck early for 3 runs in the 2nd inning. The win kept the Tigers from being swept by Maryland for the first time ever.
• Trevor Booker’s little, I mean younger brother verbally committed to the Tiger basketball team. Devin is 6′7″, 215ish pounds, and the first commitment for the class of ‘09.
• Lucas Glover won $69,500 as he finished tied for 26th at the WGC-CA Championship. [Hopefully I'll remember to keep up with more of the former Clemson golfers through the course of the year.]
• Travis Padgett went on to victory in the 100-meters at the Clemson Relays on Saturday. The NCAA 60-meters champion posted a 10.22 second time that qualifies him for regionals. He and the 4×100 relay team also posted a regional qualifying time.