The Baker did it

RBI single in bottom of ninth wins game for Clemson

Clemson's Khalil Greene collected his 400th hit in the the Tigers' dramatic 11-10 College World Series victory against Nebraska. AP

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- After using six pitchers, the last thing Clemson wanted to see was a 10th inning.

Jeff Baker saved his teammates the trouble.

"It was both excitement and relief," Baker said of his RBI single in the bottom of the ninth that gave Clemson an 11-10 win over Nebraska on Friday night in the opening round of the College World Series. "We didn't want to go extra innings in the first game of a tournament and put our pitchers in a bind that way."

Baker's first hit of the night was the 21st in a game that also featured 21 walks and a record 13 pitchers.

Khalil Greene hit a three-run homer and drove in five runs and Zane Green also hit a three-run shot for the Tigers (53-15), who trailed by as many as five runs and didn't lead until the seventh inning in front of a pro-Nebraska crowd.

"I thought this was the best game I've ever played in terms of excitement and atmosphere," Greene said. "We were excited about it before and I think we still are."

Jed Morris hit a two-run homer and Will Bolt drove in two runs for Nebraska (47-20), which is one loss away from going 0-2 in the College World Series for the second straight year.

"I think confidence-wise we feel we could have won the game and should have won the game," Nebraska coach Dave Van Horn said.

The Cornhuskers, who left 12 runners on base, will play South Carolina in an elimination game Sunday. Georgia Tech, which beat the Gamecocks 11-0 earlier Friday, will play Clemson in a winner's bracket game Sunday.

The Tigers overcame a five-run deficit and nine walks to start 1-0 in the double-elimination tournament.

"There were some strange things in that game. There's no doubt about it. I think we'll be much better off when we go out on Sunday," Clemson coach Jack Leggett said. "You never know what's going to happen in the first game of the College World Series."

The 13 pitchers broke the mark of 12 Tennessee and Miami used a year ago in the Hurricanes' 21-13 win. That was also the longest nine-inning game at 4 hours, 21 minutes, but the Tigers and Huskers approached that record as well at 4:01.

Matt Henrie (13-4), who was scheduled to start Sunday, retired Nebraska in order in the ninth and picked up the win in relief.

"We pulled out every stop that was possible. We felt we had to do it. We'll worry about Sunday when we get to it," Leggett said.

The game looked to be Nebraska's until the late innings.

Phil Shirek (4-2), who walked David Slevin to start the ninth, took the loss. Green bunted Slevin to second and Jeremy Becker intentionally walked Greene.

"We had the last at bat and I was confident that we were going to score some runs," Greene said.

Jeff Blaesing came on for Nebraska and his second pitch was lined by Baker into the left-center gap for the game-winner.

"He's a good player and a real good tournament player. I felt really good about him being up there at the end," Leggett said.

The game drew a crowd of 24,711, with the vast majority wearing the red and white of the Cornhuskers, whose Lincoln campus is about 60 miles away, and shouting "Go Big Red!" for most of the game. It was the third-largest crowd in CWS history and it got very quiet after Greene's shot in the seventh gave Clemson a 10-8 lead.

Greene, who earlier Friday won the Dick Howser player of the year trophy from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, had struck out in his previous two at-bats.

Nebraska came right back in the eighth. Jeff Blevins opened with a double, Justin Seely walked and Bolt hit a triple to tie it at 8-all.

Nebraska starter Shane Komine struck out seven, but also walked a career-high eight. He walked two in the sixth before Green's homer cut Nebraska's lead to 7-6.

"The thing that hurt us was two three-run homers. It looked like we had this thing in hand," Van Horn said. "When you jump out early and can't hold the lead, that's disappointing."

 

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