Box Score April 11, 2006
Final Stats |
Cullowhee, N.C. -
AA costly Catamount error in the fifth led to four Clemson runs, including a key three-run home run from Tyler Colvin, as the fifth-ranked Tigers avenged a loss seven days ago with an 8-3 victory over Western Carolina Tuesday night at Childress Field/Hennon Stadium. The game, however, was almost secondary as the largest crowd in WCU baseball history (2,823) was on hand to celebrate Western's Department of Athletics retiring Hall of Fame player and coach Keith LeClair's #23 in a pre-game ceremony, marking the first time the baseball program has ever bestowed such an honor.
As WCU head coach Todd Raleigh, who played with LeClair at Western and coached under him at Western Carolina and East Carolina, said in the pre-game ceremony, it was "appropriate that the ceremony to retire LeClair's #23 came when Clemson was in town" as current Tiger skipper Jack Leggett brought LeClair to Cullowhee twice, once as a player and later as an assistant coach.
LeClair then took over the Catamount program in 1992 when Leggett left for Clemson. Leggett, who addressed the record crowd before the game, said, "You always want to leave a program in better shape than when you arrived. Even though leaving Western was a tough decision, I knew I was leaving the program better than when I arrived by knowing Keith would be taking over the program."
Clemson took an early 1-0 lead in the fourth as Colvin, who had three hits, doubled and scored on Andy D'Alessio's RBI single to center. D'Alessio also had three hits and added three RBI.
In the fifth, with two on and two out, Taylor Harbin appeared to have ended the inning with a high pop up in the Catamount infield. An error on the play allowed Stan Widmann to score from second and set the stage for Colvin's three-run blast two pitches later.
In the bottom of the fifth, Western pushed across one run to make the score 4-1. Donnie Wilson walked, moved to second on an error, advanced to third on a fly out and scored on a wild pitch. Western would eventually load the bases, but Clemson starter P.J. Zocchi (3-0) got a strikeout to end the threat.
The Tigers padded their advantage in the sixth as Marquez Smith lined a home run just inside the right field foul pole for his fourth home run of the season.
Western cut its deficit to three (6-3) in the seventh as Grey Gregory and Jason Haynes hit the first two pitches from relief pitcher Drew Fiorenza of the home half over the "Purple Monster," where LeClair's #23 is positioned. It was Gregory's second home run of the season as well as second of his career. For Haynes, it was his first round-tripper of the season and career.
Clemson put the game out of reach in the top of the ninth, scoring two runs with two outs. Colvin kept the inning alive with a single and D'Alessio followed with a two-run home run over the left-center field fence.
Daniel Moskos, who entered the game with one out in the eigth and Clemson clinging to a three-run lead, pitched the final 1.2 innings and retired all five batters he faced to earn his fifth save. Zocchi only allowed three hits and one unearned run with four walks and two strikeouts over six innings to get the win.
For Western, six different players had one hit each, including the solo home runs by Gregory and Haynes. Tyler Johnson was the tough-luck loser, falling to 2-1 on the season. He allowed five hits and three runs over 4.1 innings with two walks and three strikeouts. However, just one of the three runs was earned, thanks to the costly miscue in the fifth. Brian McCullen and Greg Holland were solid in relief. McCullen allowed three hits and three runs (one earned) with a walk and two strikeouts in 1.2 innings. Holland allowed two hits and two runs with two walks and a strikeout in three innings.
Western Carolina will remain at home to host #21 College of Charleston for a three-game weekend series. Game times are 7 pm Friday, 4 pm Saturday and 2 pm Sunday.
