Baseball: Tigers force winner-take-all finale with Cowboys

CLEMSON — Everything Clemson coach Jack Leggett touched Sunday turned to gold.

A switch in starting pitchers generated consecutive gems. Light-hitting center fielder Addison Johnson replaced slumping slugger Kyle Parker in the lineup for the nightcap, and a slow-starting offense blasted out of the blocks.

“It was like a perfect storm for us,” Leggett said. “Everything we did seemed to work out well.”

The top-seeded Tigers (43-20) hope to ride Leggett’s hot hand to the Super Regionals today — against No. 5 national seed Arizona State — having staved off elimination twice Sunday with a pair of lopsided victories.

In the afternoon, they blanked fourth-seeded Tennessee Tech 10-0 to set up a winners’ bracket rematch with third-seeded Oklahoma State.

Clemson rode its momentum to an 11-0 lead against the Cowboys (34-23) through three innings, cruising to a 15-1 clubbing that gave Leggett his 1,100th career coaching victory.

The stage is set for a rubber match at 7 p.m. today at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

“We can’t take anything from today into tomorrow except maybe some confidence,” Leggett said.

Whomever emerges as the victor figures to hinge as much on how each team manages to arrange its pitching.

Clemson plans to give the ball to senior lefty Ryan Hinson (2-1, 3.41), who pitched one relief inning Saturday but possesses substantial starting experience and continues the team’s successful approach of using a lefty against the Cowboys.

Among their relievers, the 16th-ranked Tigers still have not used Tomas Cruz and Matt Vaughn only logged ð of an inning Saturday; Leggett ruled out calling upon Graham Stoneburner or Trey Delk, both of whom threw less than five innings Friday.

Oklahoma State’s picture is murkier. Coach Frank Anderson declined to name his starting candidates, although middle reliever Brad Propst (2.20 in 28ð innings) and standout freshman closer Randy McCurry (2.16), both righties, will factor into their plans. Anderson also said star lefty Andy Oliver could come back and pitch an inning as well.

Clemson saved most of its relief arms by getting a pair of lengthy starts from freshmen roommates Scott Weismann and Chris Dwyer.

After announcing Dwyer as the starter the night before, Leggett saved the lefty for Oklahoma State’s predominantly left-handed hitting lineup.

Weismann, a righty fastballer, held Tennessee Tech to four hits in eight scoreless innings.

Dwyer followed with a career-high 13 strikeouts, surrendering six hits and one run in 8ð innings. He was one out shy of his, and the team’s, second complete-game performance of the season, but he issued his first walk to load the bases and was replaced after 133 pitches by Justin Sarratt for the final out.

Dwyer’s previous strikeout high was 10, and he had registered an 8.14 ERA in his previous five starts. It was the most strikeouts by a Clemson pitcher in a game since Ryan Mottl had 13 in 1998.

“Tough to find two freshmen pitch like that in pressure situations,” Leggett said.

Just as importantly, Clemson found a temporary solution to its clutch-hitting woes.

After going 3-for-24 (.125) with runners in scoring position the first two regional games — on top of the 4-for-33 (.121) performance in the ACC tourney — they compensated Sunday with one timely hit after another.

Against Tennessee Tech, they converted 5-of-12 (.417) opportunities. Then Clemson went 8-for-18 (.444) against Oklahoma State, including starting 6-for-10 to build an 11-0 lead through three innings.

“I went out there at one point and told the umpire I’m not sure whether your strike zone is any good or not because every time we threw one in there, they hit it,” Anderson said.

“If they would have left us out on the field (heartbroken) æ.æ.æ. it would have been a lot tougher to handle. But by about the seventh or eighth inning, I was figuring out where I was going to eat.”