With Carter McQuigg at third and one out, ORU's Pat Warfle hit a ball to shallow right off CU reliever David Kopp, in for Sean Clark. Right fielder D.J. Mitchell used his tremendous speed to get to the ball in shallow right, and then threw home as McQuigg tagged.
Mitchell's throw was on line and made the play close, but catcher Adrian Casanova couldn't make the tag in time. Clemson got out of the inning when Brandon Duffy chopped to third.
ORU 5, Clemson 3, top of the eighth just underway.
Clemson has sleptwalked through most of the first four innings today, but the Tigers got two-out baserunners in Marquez Smith (walk) and Tyler Colvin (single) before Taylor Harbin blasted one out over the 370 sign in left-center off Chris Ashman. Today's not the day to get a ball up in the wind, but Harbin hit it so hard (and to left field instead of right, where the wind is worse), and now, Clemson's cut the lead to one.
With the partisan crowd at Clemson in a frenzy as their Tigers took the field, ORU starter Chris Ashman employed a wise strategy: bore them.
Ashman gave up a first-pitch single to Herman Demmink, but after a number of pickoff throws, got Demmink leading the wrong way and picked up off. Ashman then gave up a four-pitch walk to Brad Chalk, but after what seemed like eight or nine pickoff throws to first, took the crowd out of the game except for some scattered but vocal booing at the delay tactics.
Then on a hit-and-run, #3 hitter Marquez Smith lined to third and easily threw back to first to double off Chalk. No score after a half-inning....
With regular Clemson outfielder Travis Storrer still not back after fouling a pitch off his foot against Wake Forest on May 20, reserve D.J. Mitchell is making the most of his opportunity to play.
Mitchell knocked in a run earlier in the game, and here in the fifth, pulled a two-out single to score Tyler Harbin and tie the game.
Mitchell then got a great jump off ORU pitcher Erik Crichton and stole second, and took off on catcher Adrian Casnova's single to right. Right fielder Brendan Duffy's throw was a good one, but Mitchell has tremendous speed and beat the throw home by several feet.
Clemson's taken their first lead of the day now, up 6-5 in the seventh, as the Tigers retire the leadoff hitter.
Clemson has rallied from a 4-1 deficit to tie their game with Oral Robers. The last Clemson run came as reserve D.J. Mitchell, starting in right today, tried to go the other way with one out and just missed a dink single to right that was foul. However, Mitchell succeeded several pitches later, slashing one between first and second and bringing Tyler Harbin in from third.
The Tigers had a chance to do more damage with runners at the corners and one out, but CU's Jack Leggett put on a squeeze and ORU's Crichton, the pitcher, fielded it and threw home in plenty of time. Herman Demmink's two-out grounder to first ended the threat.
After ORU's Nick Jones walked first two hitters in the bottom of the third, ORU Coach Rob Walton wasted no time in pulling Jones for Erik Crichton (5-0, 4.17 ERA in 45.1 IP'd). Crichton got the first out on a sacrifice, then the second on a ground-out, then got a strikeout, but the Tigers plated a run on the ground-out... 4-3, with two out here in the bottom of the third, ORU still leading.
Clemson's Tyler Harbin led off the second witha drive to deep left-center, where ORU's left fielder Travis DeBondt appeared to be settling under the ball on the embankment that serves as the warning track in left field. But the ball kept carrying, and although it appeared that DeBondt got a glove on the ball, he couldn't keep it from going out to left.... 4-2, ORU.
The Clemson faithful are very unhappy with home-plate umpire Mark Chapman, vehemently screaming at every call not going Clemson's way. It's almost as if a sense of panic has set in amongst the Clemson fans, a strange phenomenon when you team's the #1 seed and down by two runs early.
he walks the next hitter, and ORU sacrifices him to third. Now, Berken gives up a first-pitch, opposite-field homer to Travis DeBondt, the ORU #2 hitter, who had just two in 158 AB's to that point.
It's now ORU 4, Clemson 1 here with one out in the second.as P.J. Zocchi is on in relief for the Tigers.
Still slight sprinkles in the area. Tarp is pulled. Crowd is crowding. First pitch at 9:10 Clemson time. Both teams are milling around in front of the dugout. Clemson is more business like. MSU is loose and relaxed.
Just checked in the pressbox. Looks like another hour of weather followed by 30-45 minutes to prep the field. THe lightnihg detector, which has been flashing for nearly an hour, is still flashing. And the rain is still raining.
So we sit, we wait, and we listen to the lightning detector going off in the distance.
Gates are remaining closed as Clemson prepares for it's second rain delay of the tourney. The field is being tarped as I type, andd the radar shows storms arriving here in a few minutes. THey will wait until the rain clears, check radar, and decide from there. More later
You have the dog days of summer, and here you have the dog innings of baseball. Bottom of 8. Weatherford still on the mound for MSU. Closer Brett Cleveland in the pen getting ready for a relief appearance for the save. Then out of the pen comes Justin Pigott.
THe Bulldogs of Mississippi State survived to play again on SUnday. Final score MSU 5, UNC Ashville 4. Justin Pigott gets the save for MSU. Exciting finish to an exciting game.
After LaNinfa hits a 3 run bomb that may still be in orbit, the bottom falls out from under Josh Johson. Johnson yeilds 3 runs on 5 hits as Ashville makes up the lost runs. True freshman Aaron Weatherford in to pitch for MSU, silences the Ashville bats, but not before they take a ball to the deepest part of the ballpark for a flyout that would have driven in 3 runs and given Ashville the lead..
Top of the fifth and MSU has a rally going. Ed easley on third after a double and passed ball. Berkerey walked intentionally to bring up Brian LaNinfa. LaNinfa had dramatic walk off HR against Arkansas earlier in the year, as well as against Auburn in State wins. So the stage is set. Wind blowing in. And here comes the pitch.....and there it goes! And I do mean goes!
Top of the fifth and MSU has a rally going. Ed easley on third after a double and passed ball. Berkerey walked intentionally to bring up Brian LaNinfa. LaNinfa had dramatic walk off HR against Arkansas earlier in the year, as well as against Auburn in State wins. So the stage is set. Wind blowing in. And here comes the pitch.....and there it goes! And I do mean goes!
OK. Any of you guys know me fro SEBaseball REview will know that during the regional selection process, I always gave Mark Etheridge a stone lock prediction of some eam that would make it in. Well, today, I will go one step further: I will predict what team will win a game. In the game today between UNC Ashville and Mississippi State, I predict a (drum roll please) Bulldog victory!!!
To steal from Porky Pig, "That's all Folks!!". Sean Clark closes out a masterful and timely 2 hit shutouot of Ashville. OK. So he hit a batter along the way. But he looked extremely good on the hill.
Seventh inning stretch time at Clemson, and we have just been serenaded by the "Legendary Danny". Harry Caray, move over, because the Legendary Danny is ready for the big show.
No no. Not the CHicago song (I may be dating myself there). But Saturday at the park, Clemson style. Bloody Marys may be the order of the day in some parks, but Orange Crush rules at Clemson. The Tigers have finally made their debut in the 2006 Regional.
In less than 3 hours, tournament play resumes with Clesmon taking on UNC Ashville is what will be a long hot day in South Carolina. And after looking around at some of the scores from yesterday, you have to wonder if Clemson is paying attention.
Day 1 of the Clemson Regional is in the books, but only one game was played. 2 seed Elon got by 3 seed Mississippi State 5-4 in a very close game. You might have thought the heat and humidty would have played a role with the pitchers for both squads, but both went deep into the game and pitched well. Elon now goes to the winners bracket game, and MSU goes to the losers bracket game, and that is where the original plan ends.
The game between Clemson and UNC Ashville is officially suspended tonight. Games tomorrow at 11 AM, 3 PM and 7 PM. Not a good day for the loser of this game. Double header in the heat of the day. THanks Mother nature! TIme to go get a shower and dry clothes and take a look at what tomorrow has in store at the Clemosn Regional.
Well, you knew it had to happen. Rain at Clemson. IT threatened to rain before the MSU-Elon game, only to stay sunny and muggy. After exiting the stadium to the rightfield tailgate area bewteen games, the skies grew dark and windy. Of course the BBQ was hot and spicy, so folks overlooked it. Quick glances toward the stadium showed ORange clad fans filling up every nook and cranny available to them. Knowing I possessed the ever valuable media pass, I again hesitated going in, even during the team introductions.Then came the announcement. Due to weather in the area, they were tarping the field.
What a day at the ballpark so far. The guys and I arrived at 10, Slipp dropped in on his way to the Georgia Tech regional, and oh yeah, a baseball game broke out! By noon, the grills were smoking, the tales were being told, and plans were being made for the tournament. The threat of rain was nearly non existent until just about game time, and then it lightninged once, thundered twice, and passed on by.
It's 3 AM, and here I am. Just checking into my hotel room in Seneca, SC. Not Clemson. two minutes after the regional was announced, we started trying to book rooms in Clemson, only to find that they had been booked for nearly 6 weeks. So we wound up Seneca, about 10 miles away. When I say we, I am referring to the group of guys that follow Mississippi State baseball....the Leftfield Lounge Lizards. We have been following MSU baseball since the early 80's, and the Clemson Regional was just another chance for a road trip. As we drove over from Starkville this evening, we had a chance to rehash all our old regional memories.
