Duke Drops Series Against No. 17 Clemson Following 10-1 Loss

Sunday, April 5

Clemson, S.C.

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Duke Drops Series Against No. 17 Clemson Following 10-1 Loss

4/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

CLEMSON, S.C. ? Ben Paulsen went 3-for-3 with three RBI to back a one-run, six-inning effort from starter Chris Dwyer to lead No. 17 Clemson to a 10-1 series-clinching win over Duke Sunday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

Paulsen, who batted .583 for the series, drove in runs in three of his four plate appearances on Sunday with an RBI double, RBI single and a sacrifice fly. The junior first baseman led Clemson (20-10, 9-7 ACC) to a 2-1 series win over Duke (20-11, 7-7 ACC) after driving in eight total RBI in the three-game set.

Paulsen had three of Clemson's 11 hits in the game and helped back a six-inning performance from Dwyer (3-2), who gave up a run in the first inning but held Duke scoreless over his final five frames. Dwyer struck out five hitters and did not issue a single walk while holding the Blue Devils to four hits in the game. He sent 50 of his 73 pitches in for strikes before handing the ball to relievers Scott Weismann, Ryan Hinson and Tomas Cruz, who each pitched a scoreless inning to close out the win.

Duke leadoff hitter Alex Hassan scored Duke's only run after opening the game with a triple off the right-center field wall. He would score on a sacrifice fly by senior first baseman Nate Freiman in the first inning before Dwyer settled in and shut down a Duke offense that put up 10 runs in a game two win. Shortstop Jake Lemmerman had two singles for Duke, but none of them came with men in scoring position.

Duke starter Ryan Knott (2-1) took the loss for the Blue Devils after surrendering five runs on two hits in 2.1 innings of work. He left the game in the third with the bases loaded just before the Tigers put up four runs in the frame to break a 1-1 tie.

Duke scored in the first inning to stake Knott to a 1-0 lead, thanks to a leadoff triple by Hassan and a sacrifice fly by Freiman. Hassan legged out the triple ? his second of the season ? to lead off the game after driving the deep fly ball to center field. A hard wind gusting to right field moved Hassan's deep fly to right-center field, where it hit the bottom of the outfield fence in the air. Freiman then came up with one out and Hassan on third and crushed a high fly ball to left field, but that same wind kept it in the park, but still allowed Hassan to tag up and score.

Against a predominantly left-handed lineup, Knott got through the first two Clemson hitters with ease, using four pitches to induce a pair of groundouts to Freiman at first base. He jumped ahead 0-2 against three-hitter Jeff Schaus, but could not put him away and walked him with his next seven pitches. The two-out walk came back to hurt the Blue Devils, as Paulsen ripped a double to the left-field power alley that tied the game at 1-1. Knott continued to struggle with his command and walked Parker to give the Tigers men on first and second, but settled down after a meeting on the mound with pitching coach Sean Snedeker and got Miller to fly out to center field for the third out.

Knott rebounded to strike out the side in order in the bottom of the second on 12 pitches. He got Wilson Boyd and Jason Stolz looking and Phil Pohl swinging while falling behind in the count just once in the frame.

Knott would not have the same success against the top of Clemson's lineup in the next half inning, however, as leadoff man Mike Freeman drew a walk to open a four-run rally that put the Tigers ahead 5‑1. Schaus also took a walk to push Freeman over to second base for Paulsen, who drove him in with a one-out single to center field. Knott then grazed Kyle Parker's jersey with a fastball to load the bases for Miller, who would have to face freshman Eric Pfisterer after Duke made a pitching change. Pfisterer could not cool down Clemson's bats, however, and gave up a two-run single to Brad Miller that also left runners at the corners with just one out. Pfisterer then got a ground ball from Boyd that Freiman fielded at first base and threw to second for a force out, but was good enough to get Parker across the plate to extend the Tiger lead to 5-1.

Dwyer, meanwhile, settled down after giving up the Duke run in the first inning and retired nine of Duke's hitters from the second through fourth innings. He struck out four during that span and gave up a lone single to Gould.

Clemson tacked two more runs on in the bottom of the fourth to jump out to a 7-1 lead. Schaus drove in the first run with an RBI double to right field to follow back-to-back hits from Stolz and Freeman to lead off the inning. Schaus' two-bagger dropped just inside of the right field line and sent in Stolz from second while pushing Freeman over to third base, where he would score from two pitches later on a sacrifice fly to left by Paulsen.

Joe Pedevillano and Gabriel Saade managed a pair of hits off of Dwyer in the top of the fifth, but came away empty-handed after Pohl caught Pedevillano stealing and Dwyer stranded a runner on base. Pedevillano knocked his fourth hit of the series with one out in the inning, but was caught stealing second two pitches later by Pohl. Saade then ripped another single to left field, but was forced out at second base on a ground ball from Dennis O'Grady.

Clemson scored for the third straight inning in the bottom of the fifth to go ahead 8-1. Pinch-hitter Matt Sanders started the rally with a base knock to left field and moved over to third following a walk to Pohl and an infield single to Freeman. With the bases loaded and two outs, Johnson then took a six-pitch walk to send in a run and signal the end of the game for Pfisterer, who handed a bases-loaded, two-out situation over to Will Currier. Currier used just three pitches to induce a ground ball from Schaus that Saade fielded and fired to first base to end the inning.

Dwyer kept that seven-run lead intact through his final inning and sat down the side in order again in the sixth. Dwyer exited after that inning, but not before Clemson ran the lead to 10-1 on a two-run single from Stolz with two outs in the inning. After Duke turned a double play to erase a leadoff single by Paulsen, the Tigers put their next five hitters on base with three walks, a hit batter, and Stolz' two-run knock to right field.

Clemson brought in right-hander Scot Weismann in the top of the seventh to take over for Dwyer, who left the game after shutting Duke down for his final five innings. Weismann inherited a 10-1 lead and got through the seventh without allowing a run, despite allowing consecutive singles to Lemmerman and pinch-hitter Marcus Jones.

Freshman Ben Grisz, who entered the get the final out in the bottom of the sixth, stayed on for Duke and got through a scoreless seventh, holding Clemson without a run for the first time since the second inning. Grisz gave up a double to pinch hitter Richard Mounce, but got the last two hitters he faced to fly out.

The Tigers, meanwhile, swapped out Hinson for Weismann at the start of the eighth inning. Hinson needed just eight pitches to get through the inning. Grisz, meanwhile, retired all three Tigers he faced in the bottom of the eighth as well and used just eight pitches in the inning. Grisz, who tossed a career-long two shutout innings in his last appearance, beat that mark with 2.1 scoreless innings against Clemson.

Duke got two more hits off of Cruz in the top of the ninth, but could not get another run across the plate before Cruz induced the final out of the game. Freiman and Lemmerman had the base hits, but were left stranded on base after Cruz struck out Jones to end the game.

Duke will open a six-game week on Tuesday, April 7, with a double header against N.C. Central at 3 p.m. at Jack Coombs Field. The Blue Devils will then head to Greensboro, N.C., for the second game of the series against UNC Greensboro on Wednesday, April 8, before Duke hosts NC State for a three-game series on April 10-12.

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