Clemson vs Florida Gulf Coast Baseball Recap

Clemson 9 - Florida Gulf Coast 3

The Clemson Tigers evened their series with Florida Gulf Coast after a 9-3 thumping of the Eagles in game one of a doubleheader.

Clemson’s defense came up big behind the performance of leftfielder Jeff Schaus, who preserved the Tigers’ fifth-inning lead in what was a close game. After a sacrifice fly cut the Clemson lead to 4-3, FGCU had runners on first and second with 2 outs when rightfielder Luke Smierciak nailed a ball to the outfield wall. Schaus made an outstanding basket catch to save at least two runs and end the inning.

The Tigers scored what would be the winning run in a wild third inning. After rightfielder Kyle Parker was caught looking on a strikeout with runners on the corners, Clemson third basemen John Hinson stole second just under the tag of Eagles second basemen Mikel Alvarez. While Alvarez argued the call, Tigers first basemen Will Lamb broke for home and scored easily to make the score 3-2 in Clemson’s favor. Schaus knocked in Hinson from second with an RBI single to make the score 4-2 on the next at-bat.  

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Clemson added an abundance of insurance runs in the fifth through eighth innings. More misfortune befell the Eagles in the fifth, as Florida Gulf Coast’s Alex Lazada fell down in the outfield while tracking down a line drive off the bat of Clemson's Mike Freeman. The ball rolled to the fence, enabling Lamb to score from first base to make it 5-3 for the Tigers. Hinson later knocked in Freeman from third on a base hit to make the score 6-3. After being nailed by a Lamb liner in the sixth, Eagles starter Richie Erath pitched himself into trouble and gave up a bases-loaded walk to Freeman to make it a 7-3 Clemson lead. (Erath took the loss and coughed up 6 earned runs in 5 2/3 innings). Freeman and Richie Shaffer each added solo shots in the seventh and eighth innings to create the final margin.  

Clemson got excellent outings from righty Scott Weismann (the winning pitcher) and righthander Tomas Cruz to nail down the victory in the late innings for the save. Weismann went 5 innings with 5 strikeouts and 3 earned runs allowed. Cruz pitched the final four innings giving up no runs, 4 hits, and striking out a batter.

The Tigers and Eagles play two more games in the series, currently knotted up at one win apiece with game two of the doubleheader coming later on Sunday. The series finale is scheduled for Monday at 6:30 Eastern, but heavy rain is expected to push the game back to Tuesday when it was originally scheduled.

By: Brandon Rink
DFN Sports Guest Writer