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No. 7 Virginia Baseball Falls To No. 2 Clemson In ACC Tournament, 9-5
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May 17, 2000
2000 ACC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
FORT MILL, SC
FIRST ROUND
#2 CLEMSON 9, #7 VIRGINIA 5
FORT MILL, S.C. – Patrick Boyd went 3-for-4 with three runs batted in, tworuns scored and a double to lead second seeded Clemson over seventh seededVirginia in the first round of the ACC Baseball Tournament at Knight Stadiumon Wednesday evening, 9-5.
Virginia (24-30-1) jumped on the board first as Luis Giraldo blasted hissieventh home run of the season, a two-run shot to left field to open thescoring in the first.
The score remained 2-0 until the third when Clemson (43-14) scored threeruns, all with two outs. Casey Stone doubled to center field and Boydfollowed him with a walk. Khalil Greene then tripled to right center field,plating both runners. Jeff Baker laced a single to left center, scoringGreene and giving the Tigers a lead they would never relinquish.
Clemson extended its lead to 7-2 with four runs in its half of the sixthinning. With runners and second and third with nobody out, Boyd singled toright center driving in both runners. Following an intentional walk to HenriStanley, Ryan Riley singled back up the middle plating Boyd and Stanley camearound to score from first on a fielding error by the centerfielder.
Both teams scored a pair of runs in the seventh inning and the Cavalierspulled within four with a run in the eighth.
Kevin Lynn earned his first save of the season as he got Clemson out of a jamin the eighth, inducing a ground ball and fly out with the tying run on deck.
Tiger starting pitcher Scott Berney (9-4) tossed 7.1 innings, yielding fiveruns – four earned – on hits, while fanning one to earn the victory. Hisninth win is the tops on the Clemson ball club.
Kevin Shrout (4-4) was tagged with the loss allowing seven runs on eight hitsin 4.2 innings of work.
Clemson advances to play the winner of the Florida State – N.C. State gametomorrow at 8:30 p.m., while Virginia will play the loser of that game at1:30 p.m. on Thursday.
CLEMSON HEAD COACH JACK LEGGETT
“I was proud of our team tonight. I thought we did a couple of things realwell. We didn’t panic after getting down 2-0 in the first inning. We stayedpatient. We had a real big three- run inning with Khalil (Greene) getting thebig hit. I thought we played well offensively all night long. We had a bigfour-run inning right after they had scored two.”
“Scott Berney did a great job on the mound. I thought he pitched well afterthe first inning. We were some inconsistent defensively, but we made somegreat defensive plays when we had to. Patrick Boyd had a great game for usoffensively. Khalil Greene hit the ball very well for us. Casey Stone hasbeen doing this for the last half of the season. I’ve been calling him thestraw that is stirring the drink for us. He is certainly setting the tablefor us.”
“We are swinging the bats much more aggressively in the last third of theseason. It has helped us. We play better when we hit. It is a lot easier toplay when you can score some runs and get ahead. You can relax a little bitmore.”
VIRGINIA HEAD COACH DENNIS WOMACK
“I thought Clemson did a nice job. They swung the bats well especiallyagainst Shrout’s breaking pitch. They had a good approach and never let upoffensively.”
“With regards to our club, I thought we played hard the entire way. We hadsome opportunities, we just needed to get one more big base hit, another bigfly ball or something. We did make a rookie mistake there at third basegetting picked off and that hurt. That cost us an opportunity.”