May 19, 2006

Final Stats

CLEMSON, S.C. - Clemson senior Josh Cribb tossed 7.0 scoreless innings and junior Tyler Colvin drove in four, including a crucial three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to lead the No. 3 Tigers past No. 22 Wake Forest, 6-0, in ACC action from Doug Kingsmore Stadium Friday night. With the victory, the Tigers lock down the top seed for the ACC Tournament and improve to 42-13 overall and 23-6 in the ACC, while the Deacs drop to 33-19 and 16-12.

Wake Forest sophomore Eric Niesen (3-1) was charged with the loss. The defeat, which was his first since April 16, 2005 against NC State, snapped a streak of seven straight victorious decisions. The southpaw tossed 6.0 innings and allowed three earned runs on seven hits. He struck out four and walked two.

Cribb (9-0) picked up the victory with 7.0 shutout innings. Cribb allowed only six hits and punched out four without issuing a single walk. The Tigers' pitching staff has not walked a single Demon Deacon in either of the first two games. In fact, Clemson has walked just a single batter over their last 31.3 innings.

Colvin paced the Clemson attack with four hits and four RBI. The junior is now 9-for-11 in the two games of the series.

Wake Forest senior Kyle Young tossed the final 2.0 innings and allowed three runs, all on the Colvin blast, on four hits. He fanned one and walked one. Junior All-American Matt Antonelli was the lone Demon Deacon with more than one hit. The third baseman went 2-for-4.

Clemson grabbed a first inning lead for the second straight game. Brad Chalk legged out a perfect bunt single and moved into scoring position on Niesen's wild pitch. After Niesen walked Marquez Smith, Colvin singled to left field to score Chalk, but the ball slipped under the glove of Wake Forest left fielder Brett Linnenkohl and rolled all the way to the wall. Colvin scampered all the way to third base, but the Deacs were able to retire Smith out at home and Niesen followed with a strikeout to keep the damage just one run.

The Tigers pushed the lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning. Taylor Harbin led off the inning with a single and eventually came around to score on Stan Widmann's single back up the middle.

Niesen ran into some more trouble in the Tigers' half of the third inning. After getting the first Tiger of the inning, Smith beat out an infield single. Colvin followed with a single. Niesen nearly induced an inning-ending double play, but the ball has hit just a tad too slow as Travis Storrer reached on a fielder's choice. Niesen then appeared to get out of the inning with a fly out, but was called for a balk giving Clemson a 3-0 advantage.

Niesen settled down and kept the Tigers scoreless over the fourth, fifth and sixth inning. The southpaw retired nine of the 11 batters he faced over the stretch.

Wake Forest had a great chance to draw into the Clemson lead in their half of the sixth inning. Redshirt sophomore Eric Williams and Antonelli laced back-to-back singles to open the frame, but Cribb struck out freshman Evan Ocheltree, got freshman Allan Dykstra to line out and Linnenkohl to ground out to keep the Tigers lead at 3-0.

Freshman Tyler Smith led off the seventh inning with a single -- the fourth consecutive inning the Deacs led off an inning with a hit off Cribb. But, as he did all night, the Clemson right-hander worked around the hit thanks in part to an inning-ending double play.

Colvin put the game away in the bottom of the seventh inning. The right fielder belted his 12th home run of the season, third of the weekend, off Wake Forest reliever Kyle Young. The three RBI were Colvin's 10th, 11th and 12th in the last two games.

David Kopp and Daniel Moskos each tossed a perfect inning of relief.

The Deacons return to action tomorrow afternoon with the final game of the three-game series with Clemson. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 pm. Redshirt senior Justin Keadle will get the start for Wake Forest.

-- WakeForestSports.com --