Clemson Beats Nebraska in Ninth, 11-10

After using six pitchers, the last thing Clemson wanted to see was a 10th inning, but Jeff Baker saved his teammates the trouble.

“It was both excitement and relief,” Baker said of his run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth that gave Clemson an 11-10 victory over Nebraska on Friday night in the opening round of the College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha.

“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 was the 21st in a game that had 21 walks.

Khalil Greene hit a three-run homer and drove in five runs, and Zane Green also hit a three-run homer for the Tigers (53-15).

Nebraska (47-20) is one loss from going 0-2 in the double elimination tournament for the second year in a row.

Georgia Tech 11, South Carolina 0--The only way Kyle Bakker’s homecoming could have gone any better would have been if he finished the game, but he struck out nine in eight innings and combined on a six-hitter as the Yellow Jackets (52-14) won the opening game.

Bakker, who went to high school about 20 minutes west of Rosenblatt Stadium, and Brian Burks combined to pitch the first CWS shutout since 1995, when Cal State Fullerton’s Tim Dixon and Mark Chavez blanked Tennessee, 11-0.

Wes Rynders had a bases-loaded double and a solo homer to drive in three runs for the Yellow Jackets. South Carolina (53-17) had not been shut out since losing to Mississippi State, 1-0, in the Southeastern Conference tournament last season.