May 15, 2002

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - Khalil Greene and Michael Johnson each hit two-run home runs in the ninth inning as top-ranked Clemson pulled away for a 12-4 victory over Western Carolina Wednesday afternoon at Childress Field/Hennon Stadium.

For Greene, it was his second two-run blast of the day. The senior shortstop gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead with his home run in the top of the first, after Kyle Frank singled. Clemson looked to be in cruise control as it added two more runs in the second. David Slevin started things with a double. L.J. DeMaino had an RBI triple, followed by an RBI double by Frank.

After Frank's double, the Tigers would be held hitless by WCU starter Jared Burtonr until a solo home run by Jeff Baker with two outs in the eighth inning, breaking a 4-4 tie. While Burton was shutting down Clemson, the Catamount offense began to heat up, scoring four runs over the next three innings to tie the game.

In the second, Todd Buchanan had a leadoff walk and scored one batter later on double by Alan Beck. Western cut its deficit in half in the third after another leadoff walk, this time by Chris Davis. The freshman designated hitter moved to third on a Ryan Schade double and scored on a ground out by Buchanan. The Catamounts tied the game at 4-4 in the fourth, chasing Clemson starter Steven Jackson after 3.2 innings. Freshman Alex Gary singled, advanced to second on a Clint Ramsey walk and got to third on a wild pitch. Todd Roper plated Gary with an RBI ground out and Ramsey would score on a single by Davis.

Clemson relief pitcher Jeff Hahn would record the final out of the fourth and would improve to 2-0 on the season, holding WCU scoreless over the next 3.1 innings. Hahn surrendered four hits while walking two and striking out two. Burton, who fell to 7-5, retired 12 straight and 18 of 19 batters after giving up the double to Frank in the second. However, the streak came to an end on Baker's 20th home run of the season.

Burton got an ground out, gave up a single to Jarrod Schmidt and got Slevin to fly out to start the ninth. The junior walked Steve Pyzik and gave up an RBI single to DeMaino to make the score 6-4. Clemson would take advantage of a WCU error to push across another run, which ended Burton's afternoon. Ryan Basner, who had struck out nine of the last 10 batters he had faced, came in to face Frank, who delivered an RBI single. Greene then plated Frank with his 19th homer of the season. After a Baker single, Johnson hits his 18th home run on the year to provide the final 12-4 margin.

Clemson's top four hitters in the lineup each had multiple hits in the contest. Frank led the way with a 3-for-5 performance, driving in two and scoring twice. DeMaino, Greene and Baker each had two hits and each scored twice. Jeff Hourigan and Paul Harrelson pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings, respectively. Hourigan gave up one hit and Harrelson recorded a strike out.

Western was led offensively by Gary, who went 3-for-4 and robbed Baker of a home run in the sixth inning. Schade also had a solid day, going 2-for-4. Burton moved to 10th on the WCU career strike out list, fanning seven Tigers. He now has 207 for his career and an even 100 for the season.

The Catamounts have two regular-season games left on their schedule. Both games are versus UNC Asheville and will be played at McCormick Field. The first meeting will be Saturday night (May 18) at 7 pm, with the teams' regular-season finale coming on Sunday (May 19) at 2 pm. Clemson will also conclude its regular-season this weekend (May 17-19), hosting No. 2 Florida State in a key Atlantic Coast Conference battle. First pitch Friday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium is set for 7:15 pm.