Cougars downed by Tigers

Clemson 12, Coll. of Charleston 6

CLEMSON — College of Charleston has accomplished a lot of impressive things over the years, but the Cougars just can't beat Clemson.

Still.

Even when conditions seem perfect for it to end — like, say, Tuesday — the streak continues on inexorably as if carved into stone.

The Tigers and Cougars have played 20 times, and the team in orange has won every one. Clemson came staggering into this game barely over .500 and fighting for its postseason life, and yet Charleston provided little resistance in a 12-6 rout at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

"Next year I may come up the day after the game," said Cougars coach John Pawlowski, who dropped to 0-14 against his alma mater and is ready to try anything to break the hex. "Maybe that will work. Who knows?"

The Cougars had won four straight

games while scoring a total of 53 runs, but their bats went silent against Clemson when it really mattered. The Tigers held Charleston to two runs on five hits through seven innings.

By the time Jeremie Tice crushed home runs in the eighth and ninth innings, it was too late; the Cougars were still down six.

Junior shortstop Stan Widmann hit two homers after producing zero the previous 52 games, and Clemson coasted after going up 9-1 in the second inning.

"That's two games in a row," said Widmann, whose team piled up 16 runs and 20 hits in Sunday's win at Georgia Tech. "Hopefully everybody is getting hot."

The Tigers improved to 27-25-1 and hope the victory aids their hopes of reaching the NCAA Tournament for the 22nd straight season. To reach the ACC Tournament, Clemson needs Duke to lose one of three games at Virginia Tech in a three-game series that starts Thursday.

Charleston's NCAA hopes are viewed as more promising than Clemson's, but the Tigers looked like the better team in their last home game of the season. The Cougars dropped to 34-18 with this weekend's series at Western Carolina looming.

Of Clemson's 20 victories over Charleston, 12 have come by six runs or more.

"It is unusual to have that hanging over your head," Clemson coach Jack Leggett said of the streak. "It'll change sometime. It's the law of averages."

First baseman Michael Harrington hit .467 with five home runs and 11 RBIs last week, earning Louisville Slugger national player of the week honors. He went 0-for-3 in his first five innings Tuesday, striking out twice and grounding out.

Before the game was two innings old, Charleston was already on its third pitcher and in a huge hole.

Starter Clay Caulfield gave up a two-run homer in the first to Jeff Schaus — the first of the season for Schaus, a freshman — and took an early trip to the dugout in the second after getting hit on the knee by a liner from Matt Sanders.

"We didn't pitch it early in the game and we got too far behind," Pawlowski said. "It's tough to play catch-up. The guys come up ready to play, but our 'A' game has not shown up."

Danny Meszaros replaced Caulfield and, on his first pitch, gave up a three-run homer to Widmann.

The Tigers made it 6-1 on a single by Kyle Parker, and Meszaros' day was done after he walked Ben Paulsen. Pete VandenBout gave up a two-run single to Matt Sanders, capping the seven-run inning.

Widmann added a two-run homer in the seventh off of Curtis Dowling and finished with five RBIs.

The Tigers close the regular season with a three-game series at Central Florida starting Thursday.

Reach Larry Williams at lwilliams@postandcourier.com and check out the new Clemson blog at charleston.net/blogs/tiger_tracks/