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April 6, 2003
CLEMSON, S.C. – The University of Virginia baseball team dropped a 9-2 decision to the Clemson Tigers in the final contest of a three-game ACC series at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Clemson broke open a 3-1 game after five and a half innings of play and pulled away to a seven-run victory to win the series two games to one.
Clemson scored the first run of the game and took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. The Tigers’ Brad McCann reached base on an error before he scored a run two batters later on a RBI-single to right field by Ryan Hub.
Clemson extended its lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the third inning when the Tigers’ McCann drove in Zane Green (single) and Russell Triplett (walk) with a two-run RBI-single through the left side.
Virginia scored its first run of the game in the top of the sixth inning and made the score 3-1 when Matt Street posted a hit and then scored a run. Street singled to lead off the side, advanced to second base on a wild pitch, then stole third base before scoring a run on a RBI sacrifice fly to left field by Joe Koshansky.
However, the Tigers answered right back with a run of their own in the bottom half of the sixth inning when Herman Demmink singled and then scored a run one batter later on a RBI-double down the left field line by Brady Everett. Everett’s hit gave Clemson a 4-1 lead.
Clemson broke the game open by scoring three runs in the bottom of the third and made the score 7-1. The Tigers’ Everett drove in two runs (Michael Johnson and Hub) with a RBI-single to make it 6-1 before David Slevin followed Everett’s lead with a RBI-single of his own after platting Demmink to push the lead to 7-1.
The Tigers tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to make it a 9-1 contest after Johnson and McCann each hit a double before coming around to score a run.The Cavaliers scored a run in the top of the ninth inning to make the score 9-2 when Jordan Ghrist singled through the right side to drive in Koshansky to score a run. But that would be all the scoring for Virginia in the game.
UVa starting pitcher Matt Avery (1-2) went 3.1 innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits with one strikeout in the loss. Relief pitcher Andrew Dobies went 3.1 innings and allowed one run on five hits while striking out seven batters. Clemson starting pitcher Steven Jackson (4.1) went 5.0 scoreless innings and allowed three hits while striking out two batters in the win.
With the loss, Virginia’s record falls to 20-10 overall, 6-5 in the ACC. The win improves Clemson’s record to 23-7 overall, 3-3 in the conference. The Tigers won the three games series 2-1.
The Cavaliers will return to action on Wednesday, April 9th when UVa hosts the Virginia Tech Hokies in a non-conference game. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 PM at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium.
— UVa —