Tigers' Season Ends in Super Regional Loss to Sun Devils

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The Clemson Tigers’ dreams of a return to the College World Series will have to wait another season.

The second-ranked Arizona St. Sun Devils used a five-run fifth inning and Josh Spence threw a four-hitter in beating Clemson 8-2 Sunday night to advance to the College World Series for the third time in five seasons.

Arizona State will play No. 7 North Carolina in a first-round game at the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. The Tar Heels are the No. 4 national seed.

Clemson (44-12) starter Chris Dwyer matched Spence pitch-for-pitch for the early part of Sunday’s contest, and the teams were scoreless until the Tigers’ Jeff Schaus deposited a 1-1 breaking pitch over the right field wall in the bottom of the fourth for a 1-0 Clemson lead.

Spence had retired the first 11 batters of the game until Schaus’ blast.

The Sun Devils (49-12) responded in a big way, however, putting up five runs in the top of the fifth to chase Dwyer and effectively end Clemson’s season.

“We just had a rough fifth inning,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said. “They’re a good baseball team, and especially good if they have the lead. Their pitching is good at really putting a lot of pressure on you.”

After Schaus’ home run, Spence settled in and only gave up a one-out single to Wilson Boyd in the fifth inning and a two-out walk to Kyle Parker in the seventh.

In the ninth, Chris Epps led off with a single to right center, and three batters later Ben Paulsen lined a two-out single to left-center to score Epps for the final run of the Tiger season.

it’s the third time in the last five years the Tigers have been eliminated from the super regional, and the fifth time since 1999. All of those contests have been away from the friendly confines of Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

“The biggest thing to learn from this is every game you play during the season is important because it puts you in position to host regionals and super regionals,” Leggett said. “You’re just a lot more comfortable at home, that’s all there is to it.”

Arizona State 8 (49-12)


Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB


------------------------------------------------------


Drew Maggi ss............  4  1  2  0   0  1  3  4   0


Jason Kipnis cf..........  5  2  2  2   0  0  2  0   1


Carlos Ramirez c.........  2  1  1  0   2  0 10  1   0


Kole Calhoun lf..........  5  2  1  2   0  1  1  0   3


Riccio Torrez 1b.........  4  0  1  1   0  0  9  0   0


Matt Newman rf...........  5  0  2  2   0  2  0  0   0


Raoul Torrez 3b..........  4  0  0  0   0  2  0  0   1


Johnny Ruettiger dh......  5  1  2  0   0  2  0  0   3


Zack MacPhee 2b..........  2  1  0  0   2  0  2  3   1


Josh Spence p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0


Totals................... 36  8 11  7   4  8 27  9   9


Clemson 2 (44-22)


Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB


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Chris Epps dh............  4  1  1  0   0  1  0  0   0


Mike Freeman 2b..........  4  0  0  0   0  1  0  1   0


Jeff Schaus lf...........  4  1  1  1   0  0  1  0   0


Ben Paulsen 1b...........  4  0  1  1   0  2 14  1   0


Kyle Parker rf...........  3  0  0  0   1  1  0  0   1


Wilson Boyd cf...........  3  0  1  0   0  1  2  0   1


Brad Miller ss...........  3  0  0  0   0  1  0  9   0


John Nester c............  3  0  0  0   0  2  8  1   1


Matt Sanders 3b..........  3  0  0  0   0  1  1  1   0


Chris Dwyer p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0


 Matt Vaughn p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0


 Will Lamb p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0


 Tomas Cruz p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0


Totals................... 31  2  4  2   1 10 27 14   3


Score by Innings                    R  H  E


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Arizona State....... 000 050 003 -  8 11  0


Clemson............. 000 100 001 -  2  4  2


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E - FREEMAN(7); DWYER(2). DP - Clemson 1. LOB - Arizona St. 9; Clemson 3. 2B


- MAGGI(5); CALHOUN(15); NEWMAN 2(15). HR - SCHAUS(13). HBP - RA. TORREZ. SH


- MAGGI(6); RAMIREZ(2); RI. TORREZ(6). SB - KIPNIS(26); RI. TORREZ(4);


RUETTIGER(12).


Arizona State          IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF


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Josh Spence.........  9.0  4  2  2  1 10 31 32


Clemson                IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF


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Chris Dwyer.........  4.1  4  3  3  3  7 16 20


Matt Vaughn.........  4.0  6  4  3  1  1 16 19


Will Lamb...........  0.0  0  1  1  0  0  1  1


Tomas Cruz..........  0.2  1  0  0  0  0  3  4


Win - SPENCE (9-1).  Loss - DWYER (5-6).  Save - None.


WP - DWYER(3). HBP - by VAUGHN (RA. TORREZ).


Umpires - HP: Mike Conlin  1B: Jim Jackson  2B: Chris Coskey  3B: Darrin Sealey


Start: 7:05 PM   Time: 2:52   Attendance: 4406


Game notes:


Game 2 of Tempe Super Regional.


LAMB faced 1 batter in the 9th.

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