University of North Carolina Athletics
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Clemson
Baseball Rallies Late, But No. 1 Clemson Prevails In 10 Innings
April 12, 2002 | Baseball
April 12, 2002
CHAPEL HILL - Top-ranked Clemson scored four runs in the top of the 10th inning for a dramatic 11-7 win over No. 21 North Carolina Friday evening in ACC baseball action at Boshamer Stadium. David Slevin drove in the game-winning run with a double to center field, as the Tigers improved to 29-3, 6-1 in the ACC. The Tar Heels fall to 24-12, 9-4 in the conference.
Steven Jackson (4-1) came out of the bullpen with two outs in the eighth and pitched 2.1 scoreless innings for the win. Michael Gross retired eight of the first nine batters he faced, but took the loss after giving up all four runs in the 10th to fall to 3-2.
"Our kids played their hearts out, but it just wasn't meant to be," said UNC head coach Mike Fox. "I can't fault our effort. We played hard and were ready to play, but it was just one of those games. It's important for us to rebound and play well tomorrow."
Clemson struck first when Collin Mahoney led off the third with a homer and Michael Johnson had an RBI single for a 2-0 lead. Sean Farrell answered with a two-out home run in the bottom of the inning and the Tigers led 2-1 through three innings of play.
The Tigers went down 1-2-3 in the fourth and UNC vaulted ahead 4-2 and ran Clemson ace Steve Reba from the game with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Mell Adams, Adam Greenberg and Chris Iannetta all drove in runs for the Tar Heels, Adams and Greenberg on a single and Iannetta on a ground out to second. Carolina threatened to extend its lead further, but Clemson left fielder Jeff Hourigan fielded a single by Sean Farrell and threw out Greenberg at the plate to end the inning.
The game see-sawed back in favor of Clemson in the fifth when the Tigers got RBI singles from Jeff Baker and Jarrod Schmidt and Johnson came home on a double steal for a 5-4 lead. Clemson pushed its lead to 7-4 with an RBI single by Jeff Hourigan and a bases loaded walk in the seventh before Michael Gross came on in relief of Kevin Brower and got Mahoney to hit into a 6-4-3 double play on his first pitch to end the seventh.
UNC began its comeback with an RBI single in the seventh by Jeremy Cleveland to pull within 7-5. Chad Prosser led off the eighth with a double off the wall in left and scored on a sacrifice fly by Mell Adams to make it a one-run game. Russ Adams knotted the score, 7-7, with a two-out, full-count single to score Chase Younts from third. Farrell flew out to the warning track in right to end the inning.
The Tigers batted around in the 10th and, after hitting 12 singles and one home run through the first nine innings, cracked back-to-back doubles to take the momentum. Clemson finished the inning with just two hits, but drew three walks and had a hit batter to get four runs for the final 11-7 margin.
The Tar Heels had 14 hits in defeat, includingthree by Farrell and two each by Greenberg, Russ Adams, Cleveland and Prosser.
Carolina and Clemson resume their series Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Please note, Saturday's 3 p.m. start is a change from Carolina's originally scheduled first pitch.
