Clemson blanks UMaine

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CLEMSON, S.C. – Starter Matt Henrie and two other pitchers combined on a five-hitter Thursday night to lead second-ranked Clemson to an 8-0 baseball victory over the University of Maine at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

The Black Bears slip to 9-3 heading into tonight’s 7:15 game against the Tigers, who improved to 16-1.

UMaine simply was unable to put together any offense against the Tigers pitchers. The Bears threatened in the first, third and sixth innings, but couldn’t cash in.

“We had a couple of chances and we didn’t hit [Henrie],” said UMaine coach Paul Kostacopoulos. “He just pitched a good game.”

Sophomore Mike Collar of Scarborough (1-1) had a good outing for the Bears, but surrendered a pair of two-run home runs in suffering his first loss in 13 collegiate starts.

“There’s not much you can do when they hit the ball over the fence,” Kostacopoulos said. “We made probably a dozen mistakes [with pitches] and they hit probably eight of them.”

Collar, who was emotionally pumped up, allowed the only run Clemson would ultimately need in the first inning. L.J. DeMaino singled to right, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Kyle Frank’s sacrifice fly.

Collar encountered more trouble early in the second inning when Jarrod Schmidt tripled and rode home on Jeff Hourigan’s two-run homer to left-center.

“It’s young man enthusiasm and you like that and you want that on your team,” Kostacopoulos said of the early energy that caused Collar’s pitches to be up in the strike zone. “They got three runs in the first two innings and he was just missing and getting behind, which isn’t Mike.”

After walking David Slevin, Collar retired the next 11 batters he faced. Clemson eventually measured him, scoring three in the sixth after two were out on an RBI double by Michael Johnson and Schmidt’s two-run blast.

“It’s 3-0 in the sixth. Mike’s one hitter away from getting out of the inning,” Kostacopoulos said.

“You play the game to win, but I also saw some positive things out there,” he added.

Schmidt’s homer and triple (2 RBIs) and two doubles and two RBIs from Khalil Greene paced the Tigers.

Matt Reynolds doubled and singled for UMaine, while Mike Livulpi added a double.

The Bears threatened in the first on Reynolds’ one-out double, but he never advanced. In the third, Mark Reichley hit a leadoff single but was erased when Livulpi hit into a fielder’s choice with one out.

Reynolds followed with a single, but Mike Ross bounced back to the mound.

In the sixth, Livulpi stroked a leadoff double down the line in left. However, he failed to tag up on Reynolds’ flyout to right-center and was left stranded at second.

UMaine’s Nos. 3-4-5 hitters went a combined 0-for-12.

However, the Bears played errorless baseball for the seventh time in 12 games this season.

Tonight, the Bears send junior lefthander Rich Laganiere (2-0) to the mound against the Tigers.

TIGERS 8, BLACK BEARS 0

Maine (9-3) Clemson (16-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Livulpi, dh 3 0 1 0 DeMaino, lf 3 1 0

Creek, dh 1 0 0 0 Green, lf 2 0 0

Reynolds, 2b 3 0 2 0 Frank, cf 2 2 1

Ouellette, 2b 1 0 0 0 Valiente, rf 0 0

Ross, rf 4 0 0 0 Greene, ss 4 0 2

Drapeau, 3b 4 0 0 0 Baker, 3b 3 0 0

Williams, lf 4 0 0 0 Evans, 3b 0 0 0

Carlton, 1b 3 0 1 0 Johnson, 1b 4 1 1

Izaryk, c 3 0 0 0 Schmidt, rf-p 4 2 2

Reichley, ss 3 0 1 0 Hourigan, dh 3 1 2

Young, cf 2 0 0 0 Coder, cf 1 0 0

Slevin, 2b 1 0 0 0

Triplett, 2b 1 1 1 0

Pyrik, c 2 0 0 0

Miller, c 2 0 0 0

Totals 31 0 5 0 Totals 32 8 10 8

Maine 000 000 000 ? 0

Clemson 120 003 20x ? 8

LOB?Maine 5; Clemson 5; 2B?Reynolds, Livulpi; Greene 2, Johnson; 3B?Schmidt; HR?Hourigan (5), Schmidt (4); DP?Triplett-Johnson; SF?Frank; SB?DiMaino (5), Frank (2)

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Collar (L, 1-1) 6 7 6 6 1 5

Robinson 2 3 2 2 3 3

Clemson IP H R ER BB SO

Henrie (W, 4-0) 7 5 0 0 0 5

Bandinelli 1 0 0 0 1 0

Schmidt 1 0 0 0 0 2

WP?Collar; T?2:14; ATT?1,952