By Will Vandervort

It was not the snow and the wind that made Doug Kingsmore Stadium cold Saturday afternoon, it was also the Clemson baseball team.

The Tigers played as if they were cold all afternoon, while William & Mary warmed up and stayed warm in routing the Tigers, 11-2. Third baseman Michael Katz had three hits and four RBIs to lead the Tribe, who had 16 hits as a team.

“You have to give them credit, they played really well,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said. “They put the ball in play with two strikes and had two-out hits. The kid they had pitching threw strikes and did not walk anybody and they played error free defense.

“We didn’t do two things well today. We did not hit well with men on base and could not build any innings, and we did not pitch very well.”

Clemson (1-1) definitely did not pitch well.  The Tigers’ six pitchers combined to walk seven batters and hit two others. Starter Patrick Andrews gave up four runs off five hits before the Tribe ran him off, and things did not get any better for Matthew Crownover, Mike Kent, Kyle Schnell or Brody Koerner.

“Seven walks and hit batters make things difficult,” Leggett said. “When you put guys on base, usually something bad happens after that.”

William & Mary broke the game open in the third inning when it got four straight singles to take a 4-0 lead. Clemson did not score until it was 6-0 when Shane Kennedy drove in Steven Duggar with a base hit to left field. Duggar had reached with a double to start the inning.

Shortstop Tyler Krieger recorded an RBI hit in the bottom of the sixth inning to score the Tigers’ second run. In all, Clemson left eight runners on base, most of who were in scoring position.

“I hope we don’t have many more days like this,” Leggett said. “We had a little inconsistency today, but we just did not pitch very well and that’s the bottom line. We could not gather any momentum in the game.

“Then we had some opportunities with men on base and could not get big hits. We don’t have enough guys yet feeling who they are and feeling confident.”

And that wasn’t a good combination against an experienced pitcher in William & Mary’s John Farrell. The right-hand pitcher went seven innings, giving up nine hits, while striking out four and walking one.

“He was primarily throwing a lot of fastballs and sliders,” said Clemson third baseman Jay Baum, who was 2-for-4 on Saturday. “So we will have to make an adjustment to the slider.”

Clemson didn’t fare much better on Friday against Brett Koehler, either. He pitched all eight innings and gave up just six hits and two runs in a losing effort. In two games, the Tigers have totaled only four runs off 16 hits.

“They are both good,” Baum said. “They both threw a lot of strikes. We went into the game knowing we needed to swing the bats, but they threw off our timing a little bit with some off speed stuff.”

Despite the lopsided score on Saturday, Clemson did have a couple of bright spots.

Duggar recorded his second double in as many games, while Kennedy had two hits to go with his RBI. Maleeke Gibson and Kevin Bradley, both freshmen, recorded their first career hits.

Leggett was also pleased with relief pitcher Clate Schmidt—another freshman—who entered with one out in the seventh and did not allow a run and had three strikeouts to end the game.

Clemson will host William & Mary in the rubber game Sunday at 1 p.m.