May 27, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) – Wally Crancer bounced a single over the third base bag in the bottom of the tenth inning enabling Michael Fisher to score the winning run Saturday and lift Georgia Tech to an 8-7 win over previously unbeaten Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Tournament at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.
The win by Tech snapped Clemson’s 17-game winning streak and forced a second meeting between the two teams immediately after the semifinal game between Florida State and NC State. The winners of the two games will meet in Sunday’s ACC championship game.
The Clemson-Tech game featured 29 hits, 13 walks, five tied scores and five lead changes before Crancer ended the 3-hour-44 minute contest with his hit. Two nights earlier, Clemson used a ninth inning single by Ben Hall to record a 3-2 walk-off win over Tech.
Neither team held more than a two run lead in the game. Tech was up 5-3 after five innings but Clemson put together a three-run eighth inning to grab the lead at 6-5. Brad Chalk’s bases-loaded walk brought in the first run and Stan Widmann singled home two more runs.
Clemson (45-14) added another run in the top of the ninth on Tyler Colvin’s run-producing single to take a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
But Georgia Tech (45-15) stormed back with Jeff Kindel and Whit Robbins opening the inning with a single and double respectively. Luke Murton’s single up the middle scored Kindel and Robbins came home with the tying run when Ryan Tinkoff grounded into a double play.
That set up Crancer’s heroics in the bottom of the tenth. Fisher began the inning with a double down the right field line. After Steven Blackwood was hit by pitch, Crancer squared as if to bunt, but pulled the bat back and sent a chopper over third base as Fisher scored uncontested.
Fisher and Whit Robbins paced Tech’s 14-hit attack with three hits each while Chalk and Colvin had 3-hit days for Clemson. Colvin stretched his hitting streak to 18 consecutive games
Yellow Jackets starting pitcher David Duncan was the only one of 11 pitchers used by the two teams to throw four innings. Tech’s John Goodman (2-0), the last of six relievers, was the winner while Daniel Moskos (4-5) took the loss for Clemson.
