By Will Vandervort (Contact / Staff Bio)
May 8, 2008 - 12:16 a.m. EST

GREENVILLE — There is just something about Greenville’s Fluor Field that awakens the Clemson bats.

In three appearances at the Greenville Drive’s home field, the Tigers have scored 35 runs, including 11 in their 11-5 victory over Furman Wednesday night.

“It’s just fun playing here,” Clemson first baseman Ben Paulsen said.

No one has more fun than Paulsen. The first baseman is one of those guys who enjoys the confines of Fluor Field. The sophomore is now 9-of-13 all-time on that field with 7 RBIs, 7 runs, 3 doubles and a home run. He was 4-for-5 with a double and 2 RBIs.

“I just like this ballpark,” he said. “It seems like every time we come here we have a great time and we really hit the ball well.

Doug Hogan also hit the ball well. The senior went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs and double. In all, Clemson had five doubles.

“We hit the ball pretty well here,” Clemson coach Jack Leggett said. “We see the ball pretty well here in this ballpark.”

Clemson (25-23-1) finished the game with 15 hits – just the fifth time they had reached that number this year and the second time against Furman this season.

“We really hit the ball well and we got some big two-out RBI hits,” Leggett said.

In all, the Tigers scored 7 of their 11 runs with two outs.

“This was a good ball game for us,” Leggett said. “Furman has been playing well and actually was hot coming in here. We’ve been the exact opposite so this was a good game for us.”

The Paladins, who had won 17 of their last 22 games coming in, did not waste anytime getting on the scoreboard when Marcus Rose led off the game with an infield hit and later scored following a one-out grounder from Ryan Lee.

Leading 1-0, Furman (29-17) got to Clemson reliever Ryan Hinson in the third inning. With Connor Lind at first after drawing a walk, Bobby Hubbard took a one-out pitch and drilled it down in the right field corner for a stand-up double which easily scored Lind from first. Two batters later, Reese Wade tripled down the right field line with two outs to plate Hubbard, giving the Paladins a 3-0 advantage.

The Tigers rallied to tie the score in the bottom of the fourth when Kyle Parker got things going with a base hit off the center field wall. He then came home after Paulsen doubled to left center, and Parker faked out Furman shortstop Lind by acting like he was going to slide back to third, but instead headed for home when Lind’s throw went to third base.

After the Paladins intentionally walked Hogan, Stan Widmann drew a two-out walk and Matt Sanders followed with a double to the gap in left which scored both Hogan and Widmann to tie the game at 3 all.

“We got off to a slow start, but we finished fast,” Paulsen said.

The Paladins took the lead once again in the top of the fifth when Campbell Lewis ripped a two-out double off Clemson ace D.J. Mitchell to score Hubbard. Lind scored moments earlier as Furman led 5-3 through four-and-half innings.

“We didn’t pitch well there in the fourth and fifth innings, but we came back and I thought our guys did a nice job in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings,” Leggett said.

Those guys were Matt Zoltak, Craig Gullickson, Casey Harman and Matt Vaughn. The four combined to allow just two hits while giving up no runs. Zoltak was credited with the win.

Clemson again got a two-out hit to bring home two runs when Hogan doubled to left field to bring Paulsen and Wilson Boyd home. Both runners had singled with two outs to get the rally started.

Another two-out double, this time by Parker, in the bottom of the sixth, highlighted a three-run inning that gave the Tigers their first lead at 8-5. Parker’s double looked as if it might leave the ballpark in right center field, but Furman center fielder Joey Rodgers reached up just enough to tip the ball off his glove to keep it in the field. Jeff Schaus, who had singled earlier and Matt Sanders, who reached on a fielder’s choice, came home for a 7-5 lead.

Paulsen’s then followed with a base knock to right to bring Parker home for an 8-5 lead.

Clemson added an insurance run in the seventh inning as Alex Lee brought Boyd, who had reached on a drawn walk to lead off the inning, with sacrifice fly to left field. The Tigers then increased the lead to 9-5 in the eighth thanks to back-to-back doubles from Mike Freeman and Schaus, whose double dropped into the left field corner to score Freeman.

Paulsen brought Schaus home moments later with his second RBI of the night.

“We always have a lot of fun in the ballpark,” Paulsen said. “Before batting practice we all see if we can get the ball over the Green Monster in right field. It’s always fun.”

The Tigers hope that fun continues this weekend as they try to stay in the ACC Tournament race with a huge three-game series at Georgia Tech.