Box Score: Clemson 6, Arizona State 3
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Clemson validated its championship credentials with Monday’s victory over top-seeded Arizona State.
The Tigers, the only team at the College World Series that wasn’t a No. 1 regional seed, combined a 14-single attack with the strong pitching of Casey Harman and Alex Frederick for a 6-3 Bracket Two victory before 14,198 fans at Rosenblatt Stadium.
“We came into this game knowing we can compete against any team in the nation,’’ said Clemson second baseman Mike Freeman, one of five Tigers to get two hits in the opener of a tripleheader of baseball.
“We’re really confident in the abilities we have. It’s nice to go out there and prove that we belong.’’
Although pleased with his team’s performance, Clemson coach Jack Leggett cautioned against making too much of the victory that moved the Tigers into Tuesday’s 8 p.m. winners’ game against Oklahoma.
“Our approach lately has been to just play our game and not worry about who we’re playing,’’ Leggett said after watching his team win for the 11th time in the past 15 games. “I think we’ve done a great job of that, to be honest.
“Just because we’re in the winners’ bracket doesn’t mean that the tournament’s over. We still have to play Oklahoma, who is feeling as good as we’re feeling right now. You can’t ever start feeling too good about yourself or you’ll get slapped right in the back of the head.’’
It was the Tigers who did the slapping around Monday in handing Seth Blair, the Pac-10’s pitcher of the year, his first loss after 12 wins.
Clemson had Blair out of the game after 4-1⁄3 innings, his shortest start of the season with the exception of a three-inning stint May 10 against Brigham Young when he was on a pitch count.
Blair gave up Clemson’s first seven hits and five runs. The Tigers’ patient approach at the plate forced the junior right-hander to throw 110 pitches in getting just 13 outs.
“They were making him pitch,’’ Arizona State coach Tim Esmay said. “And he just wasn’t on it. He just wasn’t as efficient as he’s been in the past where he gets on it early.
“They were very patient, and when they got a good pitch, they hit it.’’
Blair left the game down 3-1 with two runners on in the fifth. Both eventually scored, one on Richie Shaffer’s fly-ball single that ASU left fielder Drew Maggi lost in the sun. Clemson added another run in the sixth, then sweated through a couple of tight spots before securing the win to improve to 44-23.
A double play kept the Sun Devils from making more out of the two hits and two walks they got in their half of the sixth, when they scored once to trim the lead to 6-2. Winning pitcher Harman (8-3) left after two singles and a walk loaded the bases to start the seventh.
Frederick wiggled out of trouble, getting Austin Barnes to fly out, retiring Maggi on a groundout that scored Arizona State’s third run and striking out Zack MacPhee.
“When I go to the mound I always have the same mind-set,’’ said Frederick, who allowed just one hit in the final three innings to register his third save. “It’s go out, throw strikes. You’ve got to go out, pitch within yourself and know that our defense is always behind you.’’
The Sun Devils didn’t get a runner past first in the last two innings as Frederick closed them out, leaving them 52-9 and a loss from elimination.
Arizona State hasn’t lost back-to-back games all season. The Sun Devils face South Carolina at 3:30 Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s a double-elimination tournament,’’ Esmay said. “We just used our get out-of-jail free card tonight. Last I checked, we get to put the uniform on tomorrow. We still get an opportunity to play.’’
Contact the writer:
679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com
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