Catamounts shock #6 Clemson

The 1st half of the Catamounts baseball season has come to an end, and what better way to finish off the non-conference part of their schedule than with a 6-3 victory over the #6 Tigers of Clemson University in front of 2,147 at Hennon Stadium. The win moved Coach Todd Raleigh into a tie with former teammate Keith LeClair for 2nd on the all-time wins list at Western Carolina. The leader, Coach Raleighs’ former coach, Jack Leggett, who happens to be Clemson’s coach. The loss by Clemson denied Coach Leggett of his 1,000th all-time win. Clemson (14-5) would strike first in the top of 3rd inning on a 2-run homer. Western would answer back with a run in the bottom of the 5th as Blake Murphy led off the inning with a single to left field and moved to 2nd base on a fielder’s choice by John Ingram. Kenny Smith would bring in Murphy on an RBI single to left field to make it 2-1. Western had a chance to score Smith from 3rd but a double-play by Nick Liles would prevent that. The Tigers would make it a 3-1 game in the top of the 6th. Western would explode in the bottom of the 6th for 5 runs. Murphy ripped a 2-run single to left field scoring Brent Greer and Chris Ahearn, who came in as pinch runner for pinch hitter Andy John. Ingram smacked an RBI single to right field, scoring Jonathan Greene. Smith rounded out the scoring with a 2-run double to right-center field to take a 6-3 lead. Over the final 3 innings it was Western arms that finished off Clemson as relievers Chris Masters and Greg Holland gave up just 2 hits, and neither runner could make it past 2nd base as Western, defeated their 3rd ACC team and their 3rd nationally ranked opponent of the year, 6-3. Smith and Murphy were the only Catamounts (14-7) to having multiple hits in the game going 2-for-3 and 2-for-4 respectively. Drew Saberhagen improved to 2-and-1 on the season, going 6 solid innings, giving up only 3 runs on 3 hits, walking 1 and striking out 1. Holland came and pitched 2 outstanding innings, giving up just 2 hits while picking up his 4th save of the season.