March 20, 2008

Box Score

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Doug Hogan homered twice, including a fourth inning grand slam, and drove in six runs to propel Clemson to a 14-2 win over Furman in baseball action Thursday afternoon at DougKingsmore Stadium.

With Clemson leading 4-0 and the bases loaded in the fourth, Hogan drilled a pitch by Furman's Chris Newell just inside in the left field foul pole to clear the bases and extend the Tigers' lead to 8-0. Later in the fifth Hogan delivered again with a two-run shot to left field to score Matt Sanders ahead of him and extend Clemson's advantage to 10-0.

The Tigers tacked on two more runs in the eighth to make it 12-0 before Furman broke up the shutout with a run in the eighth and another in the ninth.

The victory snapped a modest two-game series winning streak for Furman (10-6), which had claimed wins in four of the last six meetings with Clemson (12-6).

Craig Gullickson (2-0) earned the victory, hurling six innings of shutout ball and surrendering only four hits. He walked two and recorded eight strikeouts.

Furman starter Justin Holloway (1-2) took the loss after working 2 2/3 innings and yielding five hits, three runs, and pair of walks while striking out two.

Furman pitchers issued six walks in the contest and hit one batter. The Paladins also fanned 12 times in the contest.

Clemson collected 15 hits, including three by Alex Lee, who also scored three runs. WIlson Boyd and Jeff Schaus added a pair of RBI each for the Tigers.

Aaron Thompkins had two hits in two plate appearances to lead Furman.

The Paladins return to action on Friday when they travel to Charleston and open Southern Conference play against The Citadel in a 6:00 p.m. game at Joseph P. Riley Park. Junior right-hander Jay Jackson (4-0) is slated to get the start for the Paladins in Friday's series opener.