NC State Baseball Shuts Out Top-Ranked Clemson, 3-0

Saturday, April 6

Clemson, SC

4:00 PM ET

NC State

21-12, 0

Clemson

26-2, 0

NC State

Clemson

NC State Baseball Shuts Out Top-Ranked Clemson, 3-0

4/6/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 6, 2002

Box Score

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Mike Prochaska threw a four-hit shutout, and Colt Morton had three hits and an RBI on Saturday to lead NC State to a 3-0 win over No. 1-ranked Clemson at Kingsmore Stadium.

The win improved NC State to 21-12 overall and 2-6 in the ACC. The loss, which snapped a 13-game winning streak for the Tigers, dropped Clemson to 26-2 overall and 4-1 in the conference.

Prochaska (4-0) dominated the hard-hitting Tigers, limiting them to singles in the second, fourth, sixth and eighth innings. He walked four and struck out six. Clemson starter Matt Henrie (6-1) pitched well enough to win most games, allowing two runs on seven hits in 6 2/3 innings, but took the loss.

Actually, Henrie only had one bad inning, the fourth. Brian Wright led off and lined a single through the right side of the infield, and David Hicks lined a single off of Henrie's foot. Tim Coffield grounded out to move the runners to second and third with one down. Joe Gaetti's grounder to third base drove in Wright with the first run, and Morton followed with a double down the left-field line to drive in Hicks with the second run.

That was more than enough for Prochaska, who allowed just one Clemson baserunner to reach scoring position, and allowed more than one Tigers runner in a single inning just twice, in the fourth and again in the ninth. Although Prochaska did not retire more than seven batters in succession at any point, he helped himself by shutting down the running game. He kept Jeff Baker close enough to the bag in the bottom of the first inning that Morton was able to cut him down stealing for the final out of the inning. And with two out in the bottom of the sixth, Prochaska picked off Khalil Greene at first to end that inning.

The Wolfpack gave Prochaska a huge insurance run in the top of the eighth. Coffield led off the top of the inning with a walk off reliever Tyler Lumsford, and Jeremy Dutton came in to pinch-run and stole second. Clemson brought in Jeff Hahn to pitch, and after striking out Gaetti and Morton, Lumsford gave up an RBI single to Matt Butler, giving Prochaska a 3-0 lead with six outs to go.

Four of those six outs came on double plays. Russell Triplett led off the bottom of the eighth with a bunt single, but Collin Mahoney hit a chopper to first that Hicks turned into a first-to-shortstop-to first double play.

Kyle Frank led off the bottom of the ninth and walked, but Greene hit a sharp grounder to shortstop that Chad Orvella backhanded to start a 6-4-3 double play. Michael Johnson struck out for the final out of the game.

The whitewashing by Prochaska marked only the second time that Clemson has been shut out under head coach Jack Leggett, who now is in his ninth season.

The two teams will play the final game of the series on Sunday, April 7, at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WKNC-FM, and on gopack.com. Live in-game stats and box score will also be available on gopack.com.