May 11, 2008
ATLANTA – Jeff Schaus collected a career-high five hits and Trey Delk held Georgia Tech to two runs on three hits through 5.2 innings as Clemson (26-25-1, 11-18-1 ACC) escaped Atlanta with a 16-6 win over the Yellow Jackets (36-15, 14-13 ACC) Sunday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.
The Jackets held the Tigers to just two runs on 14 hits through the first two games of the series, but Clemson scored 16 times on 20 hits in the series finale to avoid their second-straight series sweep after Florida State won all three against them a week ago in Clemson.
Schaus went 5-for-6 with four RBI and two runs scored to pace the Clemson offense on the day. The Yellow Jackets managed 12 hits of their own, including three by Charlie Blackmon and two from Brad Feltes, but couldn’t overcome the 10-1 lead the Tigers mounted through the first five-and-a-half innings.
Feltes narrowed the Tigers’ lead to two runs in the bottom of the second inning when he sent his 14th home run of the season over the center field wall, but the Tigers answered with seven runs over the next three innings to push their lead to nine runs.
Delk (2-1) earned his second win in just his third start of the season. In addition to holding the Jackets to two runs on three hits, he struck out four and walked just one batter in the game.
Yellow Jacket starter Zach Von Tersch (6-4) took the loss, giving up five runs on eight hits through 3.1 innings. The Tigers also scored five runs off reliever Brandon Cumpton before Kevin Jacob and Taylor Wood worked scoreless innings for the Jackets.
Georgia Tech narrowed Clemson’s lead to five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning when it plated three runs on a two-run home run by Jay Dantzler and a run-scoring single by Tony Plagman, but Clemson scored six in the top of the ninth to put the game out of reach.
A fielder’s choice by Kyle Parker plated Mike Freeman with no outs in the first inning for the Tigers’ first run of the game, giving Clemson its first lead in the three-game series. The Tigers pushed their lead to 3-0 in the second inning with a two-run double from Stan Widmann and an RBI single by Schaus.
Run-scoring singles by Freeman and Schaus pushed the score to 5-1 in the fourth before an RBI triple by Doug Hogan and RBI single from John Hinson gave the Tigers a six-run lead in the fifth.
A three-run home run by Wilson Boyd pushed the Tigers’ lead to 10-1 in the top of the sixth before the Jackets scratched for another run in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single from Derek Dietrich.
Dantzler plated the Jackets’ sixth run of the game with an RBI groundout in the bottom of the ninth inning. The redshirt sophomore finished the game 1-for-2 with three RBI.
The Yellow Jackets will have Monday off before heading to Turner Field Tuesday to face the Georgia Bulldogs for the third time this season. Tech enters the game with an 11-0 record against in-state opponents in 2008, including two wins against Georgia. FSN South will provide the television broadcast, and the game can also be heard on 790 the Zone. Live stats for all Tech baseball games are available at Ramblinwreck.com.
–GT–
