North Carolina State University Athletics
Baker, Schmidt Lead Clemson Past NC State Baseball
4/9/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
CLEMSON, S.C. (April 9) - Jeff Baker went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, and Jarrod Schmidt went 2-for-5 with a homer and two RBIs to lead Clemson past NC State 8-4 on April 9 in Atlantic Coast Conference baseball action at Kingsmore Stadium.
Clemson won the three-game ACC series, two games to one, and improved to 6-3 in the ACC and 27-7 overall. NC State dropped to 6-9 in the conference and 20-16 overall. The Wolfpack has lost eight of its last 10 ACC games after jumping to a 4-1 start.
Schmidt was also the pitching star for the Tigers, improving to a perfect 5-0 with the win. He allowed two runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings, walking three and striking out four. Wolfpack freshman lefthander Mike Prochaska fell to 2-3 with the loss after being charged with five runs on six hits in 2 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out none.
The Wolfpack took the lead with a run in the top of the first inning when Ryan Strain singled with one out and scored all the way from first base on Brian Wright's double into the right-center-field gap. The Tigers tied the game on Schmidt's solo homer leading off the bottom of the second.
Clemson added to the lead with a big inning in the third. Casey Stone singled, Patrick Boyd walked and Khalil Greene singled to load the bases with one out. Jeff Baker followed with a wind-blown fly ball to shallow center that dropped just between center fielder Josh Schmitt, second baseman Ryan Strain and right fielder Craig Lee. Two runs scored on the play to make it 3-1, Tigers. Henri Stanley and Mike Calitri followed with two-out singles to drive in two more runs and give Clemson a 5-1 lead.
The Tigers put together another rally in the bottom of the fourth inning, all after two men were out.
Boyd and Greene walked, and Baker singled through the right side of the infield to drive in a run. Schmidt then laced an RBI-single down the left-field line to give the Tigers a 7-1 lead.
Dan Mooney led off the top of the sixth inning with a double down the right-field line, went to third on a groundout and scored on Jeremy Dutton's RBI single. Wright doubled with one out in the top of the seventh, went to third on a fly ball to right field by Prochaska, and scored on a single to left by Mooney, cutting the Clemson lead to 7-3.
Clemson added another run in the bottom of the seventh when Stanley singled to lead off, took second on a sacrifice, went to third on a groundout and scored on Michael Johnson's pinch-hit single to right field.
The Wolfpack got that run back in the top of the eighth. Jason Smith reached on an error, went to second on Josh Schmitt's single and scored all the way from second when Ryan Strain beat out the relay on a potential double-play grounder. That pulled NC State back to within four runs at 8-4.
