By Will Vandervort.
By Will Vandervort
It goes without saying that Jack Leggett-coached teams like Greenville’s Fluor Field.
Since the ballpark opened in 2006 as the home field for the Boston Red Sox’s Class A affiliate the Greenville Drive, Clemson has posted a 14-3 record, including Wednesday’s doubleheader sweep of Furman.
“I don’t know what it is,” Leggett said. “They are excited. It’s a little different atmosphere. We had a good crowd tonight and we were able to get our offensive game going.”
The 15th-ranked Tigers recorded a combined 28 hits in the day-night doubleheader, including 14 in a 12-2 victory in Game 2. In all, Clemson outscored the Paladins 26-4 in the two games. Clemson also had a combined 12 steals, including a season-high seven in Game 2.
“It’s kind of interesting. It has some different dimensions, which is kind of nice,” Leggett said. “We just happened to play really well today. We pitched well and I thought we played well defensively for the most part.”
The Tigers’ 14 runs in Game 1–a 14-2 win earlier in the day–were a record for runs scored by a Clemson team at Fluor Field.
“We were really good offensively today,” Leggett said. “We swung the bats, we were good with our bunt game, we were good with our base running and we put a lot of pressure on them. We got a little team-speed and we saw some things we could take advantage of and we did.
“(Furman) does a good job and is a good ball club. They just hit us on a good day.”
On guy who seems to play his best in Greenville is first baseman Jon McGibbon, who has averaged at least one hit in his nine career games at the stadium, including five hits and four RBIs in the two games Wednesday. In the last four games, the junior is a combined 8-of-12, with seven RBIs. He is 10 for his last 16 overall with nine RBIs in the last six games.
“I’m just doing whatever I can to help the team win,” McGibbon said. “That’s the reason why I’m up there. I’m pretty locked in right now so I’m just trying to hit the ball hard and do whatever I can do to help the team win.”
McGibbon does it best at Fluor Field it seems. In his nine career games on the Drives’ home field, he has hit safely nine times in 20 at-bats with nine RBIs and a home run.
“I have never really thought about it,” he said. “I know I have played good here, I know that. It is a great ballpark and it is always fun to come here and play.”
Leading 3-2 after six innings, the Tigers (34-15) put up four runs in the top of the seventh inning to gain control of the game. The flood gates opened when Shane Kennedy, who hit a solo home run over the Green Monster in left field in the top of the second, scored from second after shortstop Tyler Krieger used a bad hop to get over Furman’s Hunter Burton’s glove at shortstop.
McGibbon and Wilkerson followed with back-to-back RBI hits to make the score 6-2 and then Maleeke Gibson, who drove in four runs in the two games, got an RBI hit with two outs to extend the score to 7-2.
Clemson added three more runs in the top of the seventh inning and then two in the eighth to end the scoring. The Tigers got two hits from Gibson, Wilkerson and Steven Duggar in the win.
“We were aggressive all day long,” McGibbon said. “We were locked in. It’s a big confidence boost for us, but we have to get ready for the next game and the next opponent.”
The Tigers next opponent will be Georgia Southern on Friday as the two begin a three-game series at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson starting at 6:30 p.m.