By Will Vandervort.

By Will Vandervort

Of all the handshakes following Clemson’s 7-0 victory over Duke Friday, pitcher Daniel Gossett wanted to make sure he got the opportunity to shake Jeff Kremer’s hand.

Recognizing the rarity of the situation, the Blue Devils’ rightfielder stopped at third base following Chris Marconcini’s double down the left field line with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. If Kremer had went on through, he likely would have scored and messed up Gossett’s bid for a complete-game shutout.

But since Kremer did not come home, and his teammate Jordan Betts flied out to centerfield to end the game, Gossett became the first Clemson pitcher in five years to throw a complete-game shutout. Graham Stoneburner threw a two-hit shutout in a 2-0 victory over NC State on March 23, 2008.

“Hats off to him, I appreciate them leaving him,” Gossett said afterwards. “I told Kevin (Bradley) as soon as I went to shake his hand, ‘That run should have scored. I’m going to have to shake his hand real big when I see him.’”

Gossett’s performance was the first complete game of any kind by a Clemson pitcher since Jonathan Meyer had one against Virginia Tech on May 15, 2011. The Tigers lost that game, 3-2. But that was not the case on Friday. Gossett was solid in his first nine-inning game of his career, while his defense was perfect behind him.

The righty induced the Blue Devils (11-11, 2-5 ACC) into 15 fly balls, nine ground balls and three strikeouts. Duke’s batters where a combined 1-9 in the lead-off position to start an inning and 2-8 with runners on base.

“Goose did a great job,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said. “He really pitched well. He only had three strikeouts and they are a pesky little offensive team, but we played really good defense behind him and he kept the ball in the strike zone and did not walk very many guys, if not any at all.”

Actually, Gossett did not walk any batters or hit one as he threw a career-high 120 pitches, 83 of them for strikes.

“I felt good throwing pitches,” Gossett said. “The defense was outstanding all night. They were awesome. Then we come in and put runs on the board and we know it is easy to pitch when you have an awesome defense behind you and you are going to put runs up.”

Though Gossett set career marks in length pitched and total pitches in his five-hit shutout, the sophomore felt it was not his best game as a pitcher.

“I’m not taken anything away from the Duke hitters, but I was not locating my slider very well and my off-speed was hit and miss,” he said. “I was able to keep a good plan on my fastball and was able to stay ahead in the count.”

The right-hand pitcher held Duke to one hit through seven innings, before the Blue Devils got two hits in the eighth and two hits in the ninth.

“This is the longest I have ever pitched in my entire life and my body is tired,” Gossett said.

The Lyman, SC native was not tired early on as he cruised through the first 13 batters he faced. Betts finally broke up the perfect game with a base hit to center field with one out in the top of the fifth inning. Though he tired some late, the righty said he still felt good in the eighth and ninth innings.

“It was good to know that I could come out in the eighth and come out in the ninth and still have good enough pitching to get by,” he said. “It is good to see. We have all been working hard and it is good to see results.”

It was probably good for Gossett to see his teammates produce seven runs off 14 hits for him as well. The 14 hits were the second most by the Tigers (14-7, 4-3 ACC) this year. Centerfielder Thomas Brittle led them with a career-tying four hits in four at-bats. The senior has hit successfully in 12 of his last 24 at-bats.

But the day belonged to Gossett, who commanded the strike zone and kept the Duke batters off balance all afternoon. Plus, he also gave the bullpen a day off.

“I’m sure they are not going to hate me for it,” he joked. “I know they are going to be ready to go tomorrow. The team is ready, let’s go.”