This was one the Charlotte 49ers were determined not to let get away.
The 49ers have knocked off nationally-ranked opponents in recent seasons, but they have been on the road. Tuesday night, Charlotte let the home crowd in on the fun.
Senior catcher Zane Williams’ three RBI double with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning propelled the 49ers to an 11-10 upset of 11th-ranked Clemson at Hayes Stadium, Charlotte’s first win over a Top 25 opponent since its new stadium opened in March 2007.
The win is Charlotte’s first over Clemson since February 2004. It’s also the 49ers’ first win over a ranked opponent at home since a 4-2 victory over then-No. 20 East Carolina on April 13, 2002.
“It was a great environment. No question, a regional-type environment,” Charlotte coach Loren Hibbs said of the overflow crowd of 1,832. “They’ve got great players and a lot of guys on their roster, we tried to recruit. We beat a tremendous team tonight.”
Clemson (13-2) had trailed most of the game, falling behind 5-0 in the bottom of the second. The Tigers took their first lead of the game on a three-run home run by John Hinson in the top of the eighth.
Charlotte loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth on a single, a walk and a hit batter. With two outs, Williams connected on a 2-1 pitch straight down the third-base line to clear the bases.
Charlotte senior relliever Patrick Lawson closed out the top of the ninth for Charlotte, striking out the final batter while the Tigers had runners on first and second. Lawson (1-0) earned win while Tomas Cruz (1-2) took the loss for Clemson.
“We came into the dugout after they took the lead and our heads were down,” said Williams, who has had at least one hit and RBI in each of the last six games. Our coaches told us to get out there and make something happen. What a great game and crowd. I wish it was like that every night.”
The comeback was nothing new for the 49ers (8-4), who have trailed in all 12 games this season.
“We’ve done this all year so far,” Hibbs said. “Every single time we’ve had to come from behind to win.”
Charlotte returns to action at 6 p.m. Wednesday when the 49ers play at Western Carolina. The Catamounts beat Charlotte 5-3 on Feb. 23 in the teams’ previous meeting this season.
Posts
5 comments:
As a former 49er player. Congrats to the boys. keep up the good work!
Jstanford
Great win! 49ers are worthy of more attention, especially in the local newspaper!
Too bad that our Athletic Director missed this one... but then again thats what happens when you only come to the games in which we play against the ACC and only stay for the first two innings. What a great game and even better that their was almost no orange or purple in the lower level seats. Go Niners!
I'm not a big Rose supporter, but to be fair she does have some other pretty big duties to attend to right now...
Great win Niners!
This has been the norm for years, well before the football program was a thought and the firing of Lutz. Since couldnt even stay the whole game for the unvailing of the stadium.
Post a Comment