By Will Vandervort.
By Will Vandervort
Clemson head coach Jack Leggett wanted it to be known, the Tigers did not lose to Winthrop Wednesday because they were overlooking the Eagles and forward to this weekend’s series with No. 7 South Carolina.
Instead, they just got beat.
“No we weren’t looking ahead to anybody,” Leggett said.
Clemson got beat when Winthrop head coach Tom Riginos gambled with one out in the top of the 11th inning and sent Leighton Daniels, who doubled to left field to lead off the inning, from third base on a flyball to right field from Clay Altman. The gamble paid off because Clemson catcher Kevin Bradley dropped a near-perfect throw from right fielder Steven Duggar at the plate, lifting the Eagles to a 3-2 win at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
“When you are here, you have to take gambles,” said Riginos, who was an assistant coach under Leggett at Clemson from 2003-’10. “I have been in that dugout for eight years. I know what he is thinking and I know what you have to do to win here. This is not an easy place to win.
“Sometimes you gamble and it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t. But I had to gamble.”
Twice in the Tigers’ victory over Wright State Sunday, Duggar threw out runners that were trying to score.
“When you only have four hits, you have to make something happen.” Riginos said. “I wanted to gamble and the gamble paid off. I could have done it ten times and I might have gotten thrown out ten times, but that one time that I didn’t, it made all the difference in the world.”
Clemson could have made the difference earlier when the Tigers had runners at first and second with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning. But Duggar struck out swinging and the threat, like many on Wednesday, drew nothing.
Clemson was 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
“We had our chances,” Leggett said. “We didn’t have many chances because we didn’t get many guys on base. We did not do a good job offensively today. We had too many guys that did not have great games and when that happens it is tough to build innings.
“We weren’t able to get the running game going. We weren’t able to get anything going. I don’t know if we had more than one lead-off runner on base from the sixth inning on. When Duggar got on, that is the inning that we scored.”
Clemson (5-2) scored in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game at 1-1 and then again in the bottom of the sixth, which tied the score at 2-2. Pinch hitter Ben Boulware, who normally starts at catcher, drove in one of the Tigers’ two runs with a base hit, while Shane Kennedy got an RBI sacrifice to score the other.
Clemson managed only six hits all afternoon.
“As a team we came out a little flat,” said shortstop Tyler Krieger, who was 1-for-3. “The effort might have been there, but we need to come out with more energy. We need to find a way to score runs earlier in innings and find a way to get it done.
“That was not a good effort on our part. We know how we can play. We didn’t play up to our standards and we will be ready to work out tomorrow and get ready for this weekend.”
The Tigers got solid efforts from starter Matthew Crownover, Brody Koerner, Kyle Schnell, Joseph Moorefield, Jonathan Meyer and Matt Campbell on the mound as they combined to hold the Eagles to four hits, while striking out 15 batters.
And though the Tigers may not have been looking ahead to South Carolina, they now turn their attention squarely on their in-state rival, a team that beat them three times by one run last year and eliminated them from NCAA Tournament.
“We are looking forward to a challenge,” Krieger said. “It is just another team. We are going to come out and work hard tomorrow and get ready for Friday. We will be ready to go.”
Clemson will host South Carolina on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and then will play them at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Greenville’s Fluor Field and at 3 p.m. in Columbia on Sunday to wrap up the series.