Baseball Downs Georgia, 5-4

March 31, 1998

CLEMSON, SC–Henri Stanley singled home Jason Harris with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th, giving fourth-ranked Clemson a 5-4 victory over Georgia Tuesday night at Tiger Field. The victory improves the Tigers to 28-4 overall, while Georgia fell to 17-12. Clemson will travel to Columbia to meet South Carolina Wednesday night.

Clemson is now 6-1 in one-run games this year, while Georgia fell to 0-3 in one-run games.

The Tigers started the winning rally when Jason Harris singled to right and moved to second when he was interfered with by the Georgia pitcher Josh Jerkins. Matt Padgett and Casey Stone then walked to load the bases. With no outs, Stanley singled up the middle to score Harris with the game winner.

A pair of Matts led the Tigers overall. Matt Additon retired all 13 batters he faced in relief of starter Brian Adams. It was Additon’s first decision of the season. Matt Padgett had three hits, including a home run for the Tigers. He batted in three of Clemson’s five runs and is now 17 for his last 28 at the plate. Josh Jerkins took the loss for Georgia (1-1).

Kevin Hall, Andy Osbolt and Dustin McNally led the Bulldogs at the plate. Hall reached safely four times via a single, triple, walk and a hit by pitch. Osbolt hammered a pair of homers, while McNally had a pair of hits.

Patrick Boyd had two hits and a walk for Clemson, while Brian Holstad reached base three times with a walk, hit by pitch and single. Jason Harris also had a pair of hits and scored the game winner.

Georgia had control of the game over the first seven innings. The Bulldogs had a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth. Georgia pitchers Kyle Goodson and Chris Clark held the Tigers to just two runs and four hits over the first seven innings and registered 10 strikeouts of Clemson batters.

Andy Osbolt gave Georgia a 1-0 lead against Clemson starter Brian Adams with his 14th home run of the season. The Tigers tied the count at 1-1 on a home run to left center by Padgett, his eighth round tripper of the season. Clemson took a 2-1 lead in the fifth on an RBI single by Patrick Boyd. The run was unearned.

Georgia regained the lead in the sixth with three runs. Osbolt and Aaron Anthony hit back to back homers to lead off the inning, the first time this year the opposition has had back to back homers against the Tigers. For Osbolt it was his 15th home run in his 28th game. Georgia made it a 4-2 game when Chris Hays walked and scored on a two-out triple by Kevin Hall.

Clemson tied the game with a pair of runs in the eighth. Patrick Boyd led off the inning with a single. He stole second and moved to third on an infield hit by Jason Harris. Padgett then registered his third straight opposite field hit, this time a double down the left field line, a hit that knocked in both runners to tie the game.

Georgia pitching was outstanding, registering 13 strikeouts and walking just three in the first nine innings. Starter Kyle Goodson allowed the Tigers just one run in four innings. Chris Clark allowed just one unearned run in three innings and struck out five without yielding a walk.