CLEMSON, S.C. ? The Presbyterian College baseball team put forth a solid effort Tuesday evening, but was knocked off by No. 20 Clemson in a non-conference affair by an 8-0 score.

The Blue Hose are now 2-13 on the young season while the Tigers improve to 12-4.

After head coach Elton Pollock's team was retired in order to start the game, Clemson jumped out to a 3-0 advantage in its half of the first. Mike Freeman earned a one-out walk by Will Freeman and moved to third on Ben Paulsen's double. Freeman came home on Kyle Parker's fielder's choice. Jeff Schaus singled up the middle, plating Paulsen before Matt Sanders' double made it 3-0 in favor of the home team.

The Blue Hose defense stiffened in the second inning, retiring the Tigers in order. However, Paulsen tagged PC for a solo homer in the third, making the score 4-0. Freeman settled down, though, getting out of a two-on, two-out jam by forcing John Nester into a lazy pop-up to short, ending the threat.

Pollock's team got its first hit of the game when Jesse Harmon sliced a single through the right side. He scampered into scoring position when Mack Hite put down a perfect sacrifice bunt back to the pitcher. The Blue Hose were unable to capitalize on the positioning as Cory Lyda and Kenny Bryant recorded the second and third outs of the inning, respectively.

After that, Freeman retired the side in order in the fourth and fifth innings. In the sixth, Hite recorded a two-out single down the right field line, but PC was unable to bring him home.

Clemson plated a run in the sixth on Nester's sacrifice fly, scoring Chris Epps to make the score 5-0. Epps had tripled to center field with one out in the inning.

Freeman recorded the first two outs of the seventh frame before Pollock removed him from the game, replacing him with Mitchell Odom. For the game, Freeman (0-1) allowed five runs on six hits while striking out three.

In the eighth, things looked up for the Blue Hose. Redshirt-senior Jared Combs led things off by slicing a single through the left side. With two outs, Harmon found a hole in the right side of the infield, moving Combs to second. However, PC could not bring either home as the squad left both stranded.

Clemson tacked on three runs in the eighth to make the score 8-0. However, the Blue Hose continued to battle as Lyda doubled to right center with nobody out. The next three PC batters were unable to get on base, thus ending the contest.

For the game, Pollock's team had five hits while committing one error. Clemson tallied eight runs on eight hits with no errors.

The Blue Hose return to action Friday afternoon at 3 p.m., when they host Radford in a Big South Conference contest.