MT. PLEASANT, S.C. --- Erven Roper (Easley, S.C.) posted game-highs of three hits – including two doubles – and two RBIs to pace the College of Charleston baseball team on Tuesday evening, as the Cougars fell to former head coach Monte Lee and the sixth-ranked Clemson Tigers by a score of 8-4 in front of a sellout crowd at Patriots Point.
Clemson (17-4) hit four home runs – including two by Chris Williams – and plated eight runs on nine hits. College of Charleston (8-13) squeezed four runs out of one of the nation's top pitching staffs on nine base knocks. The Cougars reached base in all but two innings, stranding eight runners and accumulating a trio of extra-base hits.
Roper led the Cougars with a 3-for-5 night that included two doubles and a pair of RBIs.
Tommy Richter (Wayne, Pa.) went 2-for-3, while
Logan McRae (Florence, S.C.) mashed his team-leading seventh home run.
Max McKinley (Tallahassee, Fla.) pitched three innings in his third start of the season, allowing five runs on six hits – including three long balls – to take the loss.
Evan Sisk (Chester, S.C.) tossed three and one-third frames in relief, as
Justin Baker (Huntersville, N.C.) and
Clay Hunt (Fort Mill, S.C.) combined for the final two and two-thirds.
Williams and Logan Davidson each drove in two runs to pace the Tiger offense, as Seth Beer contributed a moonshot late in the ballgame. Tyler Jackson surrendered three runs on seven hits in five innings of work to earn the win. Jacob Hennessy allowed one run in one and two-thirds, while Brooks Crawford, Ryan Miller, and Ryley Gilliam combined for two and one-third scoreless frames to close out the game.
The Tigers opened the scoring in the top of the second, when Williams led off the frame with a solo shot down the left field line. McRae answered with a bomb to dead center to start the home half, and even the tally at 1-1. Clemson regained the advantage in the third after Chase Pinder scampered home on a wild pitch to put the Tigers back in front, 2-1.
A three-run fourth would stretch the Tiger lead to 5-1, as Williams led off the frame with a solo shot to right center before Davidson tagged the batter's eye for a two-run homer two batters later. The Cougars fought back once again in the fifth, plating two runs on a double by Roper and an RBI bounce-out by
Danny Wondrack (Wall, N.J.) to cut the margin to 5-3.
After Weston Jackson's pinch-hit single pushed across Clemson's sixth run of the night in the sixth, Roper doubled in
Dupree Hart (Rock Hill, S.C.) with a shot down the left field line in the seventh to trim the margin to 6-4. Clemson would stretch the lead to 7-4 on a wild pitch in the eighth, and survived a scare in the home half when Richter advanced to third with one out before Miller escaped the frame unscathed.
Beer pushed the advantage to 8-4 with a moon-shot to right center in the ninth. Gilliam made quick work of the home half by retiring the Cougars for just the second time in the game in order to close out the win.
The Cougars return to the diamond on Friday evening, when they welcome Hofstra to Patriots Point for the first game of a weekend set to open Colonial Athletics Association play. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 pm.
