Georgia 8 Clemson 7
Clemson, SC - Trailing 7-2, Georgia scored six runs in the fifth inning and held on to defeat Clemson 8-7 in front of 4,386 fans at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on Wednesday night. The Bulldogs, who evened the home-and-home season series against Clemson, improved to 20-13 in 2012. The Tigers dropped to 19-15 on the season. Georgia's win also snapped Clemson's five-game winning streak in the series against the Bulldogs.
Clemson jumped out to a 5-0 lead after scoring four runs in the second inning. The Bulldogs answered with two runs in the top of the fourth inning, but Clemson responded with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take another five-run lead. But the Bulldogs rallied with six runs in the top of the fifth inning, capped by Brandon Stephens' go-ahead run on a wild pitch with two outs. The Tigers had scoring opportunities in the bottom of the fifth inning and seventh inning, but came up empty both times.
Ross Ripple (1-0), the third of eight Bulldog hurlers, earned the win. He gave up four hits, two runs, and no walks in 1.0 innings pitched. Blake Dieterich pitched a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts to record his sixth save of the year. The last five Bulldog pitchers combined to pitch 5.0 scoreless innings of two-hit ball. Georgia also held Clemson to 0-for-8 with two outs.
Coastal Carolina 6 Citadel 2
CONWAY - Coastal Carolina senior Daniel Bowman drove in two during a four-run fourth to lift the Chanticleers (21-11) to a 6-2 win over The Citadel (13-21) Wednesday night, while tying the CCU career RBI record in the process. A crowd of 1,078, the third-largest of the season, witnessed Bowman make history.
Bowman now has 186 career RBI, tying Brandon Powell (2000-03) for the Coastal Carolina record and tying for fifth on the Big South all-time list. (The Big South record is 216 held by Jason Colson.) Bowman drove in 54 as a freshman, 53 as a sophomore, 59 as a junior and has 20 this season. Bowman is also nearing several other CCU career marks, as well as leaving his mark among the Big South greats, in categories such as games played, at bats, runs scored, hits, home runs and total bases.
In addition to Bowman's offense, CCU freshman Ben Smith (1-1) earned his first career win. Making his second relief appearance, Smith pitched 4.2 scoreless innings, scattering three hits and two walks, with four strikeouts.
