Relaxed in a chair after his team’s lopsided 10-1 victory over Southern Miss on Friday, Clemson coach Jack Leggett was asked if his team had played a more well-rounded game all season.

He had a tough time disagreeing.

“That’s awful good to get started the way we did,” Leggett said.

The only thing that slowed down the Tigers from moving forward in the winners’ bracket, where they’ll face Auburn tonight at 6 p.m., was a 34-minute lightning delay that stalled the action despite there being no rain or lightning in sight.

By then, Clemson had already roughed up Southern Miss’ Scott Copeland, who came into Friday’s game with 11 wins, and right-hander Scott
Weismann had already solidified another sterling, postseason effort.

Weismann, considered Clemson’s No. 2 behind today’s starter Casey Harman, gave up just the one run over seven impressive innings of work.

He needed only 90 pitches, 61 for strikes, in limiting the Golden Eagles to four hits, while walking one and striking out six.

In two career NCAA Tournament starts, Weismann has two wins and a 0.60 ERA.

“It’s the playoffs,” Weismann said. “Do or die now.”

Weismann had plenty of support, both in the form of offensive production and spectacular defense.

The Tigers backed Weismann promptly after his scoreless first with two runs in the bottom half of the inning. Will Lamb led off with a single and came around on the very next at-bat on a Mike Freeman double. Freeman scored two batters later on a Kyle Parker sacrifice fly.

“Scotty set the tone,” said Lamb, who went 3-for-3. “We fed off Scott.”

Weismann’s only relapse, when he allowed an RBI double by Tyler Koenning in the fifth inning, summoned an offensive awakening from the Tigers lineup.

Clemson countered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth when Lamb hit a solo home run and Parker drove in another run with an RBI single.

If that wasn’t already enough, Clemson added six more in the sixth inning, taking advantage of a fatigued Copeland and a rough day from reliever Cody Schlagel, who failed to record an out against the three batters he faced.

John Hinson had a home run for the Tigers in the sixth inning, and six different Clemson players picked up RBI on Friday. All but one of the Tigers’ starters had at least one hit.

“Everybody had a good approach,” Leggett said. “Everybody stuck with it. Everybody stayed within the plan that we had coming in.”

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