By Eric Sprott (Contact / Staff Bio)
March 25, 2008 - 12:14 a.m. EST

CLEMSON — It had been an uneven season for the Clemson baseball team heading into last weekend, as the Tigers needed some good fortune to come their way.

Sans a narrow loss on Friday night, Clemson got just what it had been hoping for over the last several weeks.

The Tigers (14-7, 4-5 ACC) emerged from the week with a 4-1 record, highlighted by a win over No. 21 Coastal Carolina and a pair of victories over N.C. State in their three-game, weekend series at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson.

The Tigers also picked up a mid-week, 14-2 victory over Furman two days after their win over the Chanticleers.

Catcher Doug Hogan, just one of two seniors on the Tigers’ roster, had a big week, as he was named the Eye on the Golden Spikes National Player-of-the-Week by USABaseball.com

The Golden Spikes Award honors the nation’s top player, and was captured by a Clemson player for the first time in 2002 when Khalil Greene, now of the San Diego Padres, took home the honor.

During the week, Hogan hit two home runs in back-to-back games against Coastal Carolina on Tuesday, and Furman on Thursday. He also totaled 11 RBI in those games, and is tied with Wilson Boyd for the team lead in the category with 25 on the season.

It was also a big weekend for freshman Graham Stoneburner, who was the first Clemson pitcher to be named as the ACC Pitcher of the Week since the 2006 season.

In the rubber match of the Tigers’ series against N.C. State on Sunday, Stoneburner pitched a complete game, two-hit shutout in Clemson’s 2-0 victory.

While pitching the Tigers’ first individual shutout since 2005, the righty from Richmond, Va. had seven strikeouts against only one walk while not allowing a Wolfpack player past second base.

Clemson’s series victory against N.C. State was a big one, as the Tigers moved into third place in the ACC Atlantic Division standings with the two victories over the Wolfpack. They now only trail Wake Forest by one game for second place in the standings, but still trail far behind Florida State, who is 9-0 in conference action.

The series win over the Wolfpack also marked the first time this season Clemson had captured an ACC series victory. The Tigers dropped two of their three games at Wake Forest earlier this month, and then went on to drop two of three against Boston College last weekend at home.

In that series, Clemson blew late leads in the Friday and Saturday games before exploding for a 16-2 win in the series finale on Sunday.

Next up on the docket for the Tigers is a two-game series against Elon, which will conclude their 12-game home stand in Clemson.

The series will get under way tonight at 7:15 p.m., and will conclude Wednesday at the same time.

Following its series against the Phoenix, Clemson will travel to Maryland this weekend for a three-game series beginning Friday night.