Tigers Beat Winthrop; South Carolina Up Next

Senior righthander Stephen Clyne pitched 3.0 scoreless innings and allowed only one hit to lead No. 2 Clemson to a 6-4 win over Winthrop in front of 4,781 fans at Doug Kingsmore Stadium Wednesday.

The Tigers improved to 7-1, and the Eagles fell to 8-6.

Andy D'Alessio and Taylor Harbin each hit their first home runs of the season in the win. Ben Paulsen added two hits for the Tigers as well. Tommy Lentz had two hits and one RBI for Winthrop.

Clyne (2-0) pitched 3.0 scoreless innings of relief, striking out three, to earn his second victory of the season. Daniel Moskos picked up his first save of the season as well. Alex Wilson (0-1) surrendered six runs in 8.0 innings pitched to suffer the loss for Winthrop.

The Tigers opened the scoring in the third inning with one run. Doug Hogan led off the third inning with a triple to right-center. Wilson Boyd followed with a ground ball to the second baseman, who threw to home plate, but not in time to retire Hogan, who scored Clemson's first run.

The Eagles responded with four runs in the fifth inning to take the lead 4-1. John Murrian led off with a single to right field and advanced to second on a fielding error by rightfielder Wilson Boyd. Chris Carrara followed with a single to second base, advancing Murrian to third. Tyler McBride brought in the tying run with a safety-squeeze bunt to first base. Kevin Nolan singled to left field, advancing Carrara to third. Lentz singled up the middle, scoring Carerra. With two outs, Bryn Henderson reached on a walk to load the bases. Nolan then scored on a wild pitch and Lentz scored on a throwing error by Hogan on the same play, putting the Eagles ahead 4-1.

Chalk led off the sixth inning with his seventh walk of the season and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Two batters later, D'Alessio hit a towering home run to right field, cutting Winthrop's lead to 4-3. It was D'Alessio's first home run of the season.

The Tigers regained the lead in the seventh inning. Boyd led off with a walk. J.D. Burgess then advanced Boyd to second on a sacrifice bunt. Addison Johnson singled to second base and advanced to second base on a throwing error by second-baseman Rand Baughman, which also plated Boyd to tie the score. Harbin then blasted a two-run home run to left field, putting the Tigers back in the lead 6-4. It was Harbin's first home run of the year.

The No. 2 Tigers return to action Saturday at 2:00 PM when they play host to No. 4 South Carolina at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.