Clemson Finally Gets Things Done

Even a team that has been to the College World Series 10 times can find uncharted territory in Omaha.

Clemson (54-15) improved to 2-0 for the first time in the CWS after the Tigers scored eight runs in the second inning and held off Atlantic Coast Conference rival Georgia Tech, 9-7, Sunday before a crowd of 25,581 at Rosenblatt Stadium.

“I’m just pleased with where we’re at right now, but there’s a bigger goal in mind,” Coach Jack Leggett said after the Tigers moved within one win of the championship game. “You’ve got to stay on edge if you want to win this tournament.”

Clemson, 3-2 against Georgia Tech this season, will play Wednesday against either the Yellow Jackets or South Carolina, who will play an elimination game Tuesday.

“It’s not an easy task, it just puts us in a better position than maybe they’re in,” Leggett said.

Khalil Greene went hitless in four at-bats, ending his 35-game hitting streak, but it didn’t matter with the way the rest of the Tigers were hitting. Michael Johnson was three for three with a homer and two RBIs and Jeff Baker hit a bases-loaded double during the Tigers’ big second inning.

“Everybody seemed to get the hits when we needed them,” Johnson said. “In that eight-run inning, everybody contributed.”

Jason Perry homered and had two RBIs and Philip Perry had a strong relief outing that gave the Yellow Jackets (52-15) a chance at coming back.

“We just couldn’t get them out. They had some great at-bats and ended up putting a big number up there,” Georgia Tech Coach Danny Hall said. “But to my guys’ credit, we battled back.”

South Carolina 10, Nebraska 8--Yaron Peters hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the ninth inning and the Gamecocks eliminated the Cornhuskers.

“All day long I didn’t get much to hit. I didn’t get a chance to get extended on anything,” said Peters, who drove a two-strike pitch from Jeremy Becker over the wall in right-center.

“My eyes just blew up when I saw something over the middle of the plate. If I was going to go, I was going to go hacking.”

The Gamecocks (54-17) rallied from a 4-0 deficit for their first CWS win in three appearances. South Carolina, which had only six hits while being shut out by Georgia Tech, 11-0, in the opening round, had 15 hits off six Nebraska pitchers.

“We certainly wanted to come out and have a character performance today, and we certainly did. Being down 4-0, it didn’t look too good,” South Carolina Coach Ray Tanner said. “Today it was a heavyweight fight and we were fortunate to come out on top.”

John Wesley (2-0) got the win when Brandon Eymann flew out to deep right. Wesley, South Carolina’s fifth pitcher, pitched 3 2/3 innings and held the Cornhuskers to one run and two hits.

Nebraska (47-21) went 0-2 in the CWS for the second straight year despite scoring 18 runs in two games.

The Cornhuskers left nine runners on base.