CLEMSON, S.C.�€"Tyler Colvin belted a one-out grand
slam in the bottom of the ninth to lift No. 1 national seed and
third-ranked Clemson to an 11-8 win over No. 19 Oral Roberts in the
opening game of the teams' Super Regional series, Friday at Doug
Kingsmore Stadium.
Clemson (51-14) now
needs just one win in the best-of-three series to advance to the
College World Series. ORU (41-15) must win twice to gain its first
trip to Omaha since 1978.
After ORU rallied for
three runs in the top of the ninth, Clemson staged its own rally in
the bottom of the inning. After retiring pinch-hitter Ben Hall to
start the inning, Sean
Jarrett (7-2) allowed consecutive infield singles to
Herman Demmink, Brad Chalk and Marquez Smith to load the bases.
Colvin slammed Jarrett's 1-1 pitch over the fence in straight away
right field to win the game.
Trailing 7-5 in the top
of the ninth, the Golden Eagles set the stage for a dramatic
ending. Carter
McQuigg and Pat Warfle led off the
inning with singles against Clemson closer Daniel Moskos. After a
sacrifice bunt by Brendan Duffy, Tim Torres lifted a
sac fly to score McQuigg and make it 7-6.
Jake Kahaulelio tied the
game with an RBI single, and after Andy Bouchie reached on a
single, Chad
Rothford lined a base-hit to left, scoring Kahaulelio and
giving ORU an 8-7 lead.
The Golden Eagles led
throughout much of the early going. ORU scored an unearned run in
the top of the first, and Clemson tied it on a lead-off home run in
the bottom of the first.
Travis DeBondt hit an
opposite-field, three-run homer in the top of the second to put the
Golden Eagles ahead 4-1, but DeBondt also factored into Clemson's
next run. Taylor Harbin hit a fly ball to deep left field leading
off the second. DeBondt appeared to settle under the ball just in
front of the fence, but it popped out of his glove and over the
fence for a home run, trimming the lead to 4-2.
Clemson pulled to
within 4-3 in the third. Back-to-back walks to start the inning led
to Nick
Jones' departure from the game. Erik Crichton relieved and,
after a sac bunt by Chalk, Smith hit an RBI ground out as the
Tigers made it a one-run game.
The Tigers tied it in
the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by D.J. Mitchell, but ORU
regained the lead in the top of the sixth when Rothford ripped a
lead-off home run to give the Golden Eagles a 5-4 lead. The lead,
however, didn't last long.
Harbin reached leading
off the inning when DeBondt dropped a line drive. Crichton retired
Andy D'Alessio on a grounder to first and struck out Stan Widmann
for the second out. But Mitchell and Adrain Casanova collected
consecutive RBI singles to give Clemson their first lead at
6-5.
The Tigers added what
appeared to be an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth against
Jarrett on another RBI single by Mitchell.
The Golden Eagles and
Tigers each banged out 12 hits. Kahaulelio, Bouchie, Rothford and
McQuigg each had a pair of hits for ORU. Mitchell had three hits,
while Demmink and Colvin had two apiece.
Jarrett suffered the
loss for ORU, allowing five runs on six hits in 1.1 innings. Moskos
was credited with the win despite allowing three runs in the
ninth.
The Golden Eagles and
Tigers resume their series at 3 p.m., CDT, Saturday.
--ORU--
