April 28, 2007
CLEMSON, S.C. – Andy D’Alessio had four hits, including two home runs, and the Tigers scored in each of the first six innings as Clemson (29-14, 13-7 ACC) defeated Georgia Tech (26-17, 13-9 ACC), 10-3, Saturday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
Clemson cruised to its second win in the series behind the superb pitching of starter David Kopp (5-2), who tossed six strong innings, giving up just two runs, only one of which was earned, on six hits while striking out four.
D’Alessio was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate and also had two RBI and three runs scored, while Marquez Smith went 3-for-5 with a game-high three RBI against the Yellow Jackets.
Brad Feltes collected three hits and scored three runs to lead the Yellow Jackets’ offense, while Matt Wieters added two hits and drove in two runs in the contest. Georgia Tech had 10 hits against the Tigers on the night, but left 11 runners on base, including six in scoring position.
After D’Alessio earned a one-out walk to load the bases in the bottom of the first inning, Smith drove in two runs with a single up the middle to give Clemson a 2-0 lead in the game. The Tigers added another run in the second inning when Addison Johnson led off with a triple and scored on an RBI single by J.D. Burgess.
Wieters’ RBI double got the Jackets on the scoreboard in the third inning, pulling Tech to within two runs at 3-1, but centerfielder D.J. Mitchell helped Kopp out of a bases-loaded jam by tracking down a line drive by Tony Plagman to end the threat.
A solo home run by D’Alessio, his seventh of the season, pushed the Tigers’ lead back to three runs in the bottom of the third before Wilson Boyd’s two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the fourth inning pushed the score to 6-1 in favor of Clemson.
Boyd’s hit chased Yellow Jacket starter Eddie Burns (3-2), who took the loss after giving up six runs, only four of which were earned, on seven hits in 3.2 innings of work.
Wieters drove in the Yellow Jackets’ second run of the game with two outs in the top of the fifth inning when he pulled the 12th pitch of his at-bat down the right field line to plate Feltes, who led off the inning with a single to right field.
Clemson answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth with RBI singles by Ben Paulsen and Johnson to push its lead to 8-2 and added another run in the sixth on an RBI double by Smith.
Tech loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning, and Wally Crancer drove in the Jackets’ third run of the game with a single to right field, but Tiger reliever Chris Fidrych forced a flyout by Plagman and Smith snagged a line drive by Luke Murton to end the threat.
After walking Johnson with one out in the bottom of the seventh and allowing the Tiger leftfielder to move to third on a failed pickoff attempt, Tim Ladd forced Burgess to fly out to centerfield before striking out Mitchell to end the Clemson threat and snap the Tigers’ consecutive scoring streak at eight innings, dating back to Friday night’s game.
D’Alessio hit his second home run of the game with two outs in the eighth inning to cap the scoring in the game.
Tech and Clemson will conclude the series Sunday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m., and the game can be followed on ACC Select (gatech.playonsports.tv) and heard on 790 the Zone. Live stats for all Yellow Jacket baseball games are available at www.ramblinwreck.com.
