(PC photo)
The nation of Presbyterian College sports, comparatively small in the overall pantheon, was stretched a little thin for Greenville’s Fluor Field on Wednesday evening.
The overwhelming majority of the 2,744 watching Clemson play PC in baseball were wearing orange. Some Blue Hose parents and Greenvillians likely stopped by the minor-league Fenway Park.
The women’s basketball team understandably commanded most of the fighting Blue Hose spirit, as well should they because Presbyterian won a play-in game, 49-42, in the NCAA Tournament., over Sacred Heart of Connecticut.
Two weeks, it would have been deemed crazy talk.
The miracle requests were a bit a heavy in the Presbyterian sector of heaven.
Besides, Elton Pollock’s baseball team was only playing third-ranked Clemson. On Friday, Alaura Sharp’s women’s sharpshooters are targeting No. 1 South Carolina on its home floor.
Clemson (19-2) ripped two triples and clouted three home runs in an 11-1 victory over Presbyterian (9-12).
The Tigers worked out six arms, apportioned them from 2/3rds of an inning to two apiece, and together they yielded two Blue Hose singles to second baseman Aaron Hobson and one to right fielder Rhogue Wallace. Hobson and Joel Dragoo stole bases. Wallace scored a run.
Pollock pitched a bigger passel, eight. All 11 runs were earned. Luke Gibson (0-1) took the loss. Ethan Darden’s inning got him a win. He’s 3-0.
Third baseman Blake Wright drove in six runs with two singles and a homer in four at-bats. Alden Mathes, Jacob Hinderleider and Jarren Purify stroked two hits apiece.
The Blue Hose visit Longwood in Farmville, Va., for a three-game Big South Series. A Friday doubleheader is to begin a noon, and the teams play a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Take a look at the box here.
Claudia Sanchez and Lucianna Piedra captured singles matches, but Gardner-Webb defeated Presbyterian (8-9, 1-1 Big South) in women’s tennis, 5-2, at Templeton Courts on Wednesday.
Gardner-Webb (5-7, 2-1) acquired the doubles point at Nos. 1-2, but Sanchez and Valentina De Sousa recorded a 7-5 win on court three.
The Bulldogs won four of the six singles matches. Sanchez won her third straight match tying the score at one with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 3 singles. Gardner-Webb tallied wins at Nos. 1, 5 and 6. Then, Piedra picked up a hard-fought three sets win, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, at No. 4. Gardner-Webb closed out the match with a win on court two.
Presbyterian welcomes Chattanooga for a non-conference match on Friday at noon.
Senior Javier Matos is Big South Men’s Tennis Player of the Week. Freshman Evgenios Vasilakis is the league’s Freshman of the Week for the second time.
Vasilakis is the 11th player in the program’s history to claim multiple Big South Freshman of the Week awards. The Athens, Greece native picked up Presbyterian’s first singles victory in its win over Longwood. He posted a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 5 singles. He also competed in doubles as part of Presbyterian’s No. 3 team but the match was stopped since the Blue Hose had already clinched the doubles point.
Presbyterian is back in action against Radford at home on Saturday at 1 p.m.
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