CU 002 105 000 8 14 0
FSU 001 002 010 4 6 4
W - Lumsden (7-0) L - Peterson (6-1)
Sloppy Seminoles fall to Clemson
by Drew Hankin
#2 Florida State fell 8-4 to #13 Clemson on Friday at Dick Howser Stadium in front of 4,016 fans. Of the eight runs given up, only four of them were earned as the Noles committed four errors.
Trent Peterson (6-1) took his first loss of the season in a rough outing that lasted only five innings. Petey gave up four earned runs on nine hits while walking two and striking out three batters. The Seminole relief fared better, with Glen Simon, Matt DiBlasi, and Eddie Cannon throwing a combined four innings of scoreless ball with six strikeouts.
After two scoreless innings to open the game, Clemson took a lead in the third when catcher Steve Pyzik singled through the right side and moved to third when rightfielder Zane Green reached on a fielding error by Chris Hart. Shortstop Russell Triplett then doubled down the rightfield line to score Pyzik, and Green came home on a throwing error by Jerrod Brown to put the Tigers up 2-0. FSU cut that lead in half in the bottom of the inning when Matt Sauls led off with a walk, stole second, and scored on a double by Tony Richie.
CU got that run right back in the next frame when Hourigan led off with a dobule to right-center, moved to third on a ground, and scored on another error by Brown.
Clemson blew the game open in the sixth inning which began when centerfielder Kyle Frank singled to right and moved to second on an error by Stephen Drew when leftfielder Ryan Hub reached on a fielder's choice. Pyzik then tripled down the left field line to score both runners. Secondbaseman David Slevin then singled to left to score Pyzik, and Green reached on an infield single that finally chased Peterson. Firstbaseman Michael Johnson then reached on another infield single off of Glen Simon's foot to load the bases. Thirdbaseman Brad McCann then singled back to Simon, but the ball was deflected allowing both Slevin and Green to score. By the end of the inning, Clemson had scored five runs on six hits to take an 8-1 lead.
FSU got a couple of those runs back in the bottom of the inning when Eddy Martinez-Esteve singled to left and scored when Richie homered to right.
Two innings later, Martinez-Esteve homered for the seventh time this season to cut the Clemson lead to 8-4, but that was all the Noles could muster.
Florida State fell to 31-6 and 9-4 in the ACC while Clemson improved to 25-7 and 4-3 in conference play. The same two teams play on Saturday at 7:00 with Matt Lynch (7-2 3.52) on the mound for the Noles against Patrick Hogan (1-1 1.86) for the Tigers.
Section B Online Player of the Game:
Tony Richie (2-4, 1 R, 3 RBI, 2B, HR, 2 runners thrown out)
Go Seminoles - Beat those Tigers Tonight
