Clemson Wins Series Opener Behind Strong Outing from Ace
5/11/2013 2:31:33 AM | Baseball
CLEMSON, S.C. - Daniel Gossett held the Georgia Southern Eagles to one run and two hits in a 7-1 Clemson Tiger victory at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on Friday night.
Gossett (8-3) struck out 12 batters and walked just two over 7.1 innings to earn the win. The sophomore righthander retired the first 10 batters he faced before allowing a single to Ben Morgan in the fourth inning.
Justin Hess (4-5) took the loss after allowing five runs on five hits. Hess allowed seven walks and struck out six batters over five innings.
The big blow for Clemson (35-15) came in the fourth inning. After a run scored on a fielder's choice, Hess walked Thomas Brittle with two outs before Mike Triller doubled in a pair of runs.
Georgia Southern (25-24) only had a combined two base runners over the first five innings before scoring a run in the sixth inning. Ben Morgan drove a ball back up the middle to score Scooter Williams from second base and give the Eagles their second hit of the game.
The Tigers started the scoring with a single run in the first inning. Garrett Boulware hit a hard shot off the shoulder of third baseman Brent Pugh to plate a lead off walk in Maleeke Gibson. Hess bounced back after allowing the run to strand a pair of runners in the second inning and faced the minimum in the third inning.
Clemson loaded the bases with three walks in the fifth inning and scored a run on a RBI ground out by Jon McGibbon. The Tigers added their final two runs in the seventh inning. Boulware plated the first run with a single to left field and Jay Baum drove in the other with a triple.
The Eagles loaded the bases in the eighth inning but were unable to score a run. Two different Clemson pitchers walked three batters before Matt Campbell came on in relief to record the final two outs in the frame with a strikeout and a line out.
The same two teams will meet tomorrow for game two of the series at 6:30 p.m. The game can be heard on the Georgia Southern Radio Network and online at gseagles.com/watch-listen.
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.
Notes: Georgia Southern tied a school season strikeout record with 437 punch outs... The five earned runs allowed by Justin Hess snapped a streak of five-straight starts with three earned runs or less.
