Clemson Claims Baseball Series Win over South Carolina

Friday March 2: South Carolina 3 Clemson 2

On a chilly night in Columbia, The Tigers and Gamecocks engaged in a good old fashion pitchers duel. Going to into the sixth inning the Tigers trailed 1-0 and were being held hitless by Gamecock pitcher Adam Hill. Logan Davidson worked a one out walk and then Seth Beer broke up the no hit bid with a two run homer to give the Tigers the lead. The Tigers held that lead until the bottom of the eighth when pinch hitter Matt Williams took the Tigers' Owen Griffith deep for a game tying solo homer. The Tigers were unable to score in the top of the ninth, and the Gamecocks were able to get the win in the bottom of the when pinch runner Danny Blair scored off of a TJ Hopkins sacrifice fly. Once again, Monte Lee's squad was unable to get the opening win of the rivalry series, as the Tigers are 0-3 under Lee on Friday night's against the Gamecocks. This was the Tigers' first loss of the season. Adam Hill's performance was good enough to earn him the Tom Price Award, given to South Carolina's MVP during the series. Hill held the Tigers to two hits and struck out 14 batters in seven innings.

Saturday March 3: Clemson 5 South Carolina 1

The Tigers opened up the offense a bit more in Saturday's victory in Greenville. The Tigers scored in the third, fourth, and fifth inning to establish the 5-1 lead. Kyle Wilkie had a nice day, going 2-4 and driving in two runs with a single in the fifth. Starter Brooks Crawford went 4.2 innings and limited the Gamecocks to three runs. Mat Clark came on to finish get the final out of the Gamecock fifth. The Tigers took the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Clark was replaced by Ryan Miller in the sixth, giving Clark his second win of the season despite facing one batter. Miller got his first save of the year, allowing four hits and striking out three in four innings of work. With Greenville's four game contract to host the Saturday game coming up, the school's will be accepting bids for next year's host during the offseason. The game may return to Greenville. Other potential options mentioned have been Charleston, North Augusta, Myrtle Beach, or even possibly Charlotte.

Sunday March 4: Clemson 8 South Carolina 7

The exciting rubber match of the series proved why so many people refer to this series as the best rivalry in college baseball. Patrick Cromwell got things going for the Tigers in the first with a solo shot to put Clemson up 1-0. Clemson scored a combined five runs in the third and fourth, including two off a Cromwell single in the fourth that scored Seth Beer and Logan Davidson, giving Clemson the 6-0 lead. TJ Hopkins cut the Tiger lead in half with a three run homer in the fifth. Jonah Bride scored a run in the sixth to cut the lead to two, but Davidson answered in the bottom half with a solo home run of his own. A eighth inning infield RBI single from Carlos Cortes cut it to 7-5 Clemson. In the top of the ninth, the Gamecocks scored two more runs to tie it up. With two outs, the go ahead run stood at third in the form of LT Tolbert, but he was left stranded when Chris Cullen popped out to Wilkie in foul territory in for the final out.

Chris Williams led of the ninth by flying out to Danny Blair in center, who collided with Carlos Cortes, who was moved to right from left. Blair amazing held on to the ball despite the collision for out number one. Robert Jolly aka Big Hit Bob aka Mr. Clutch worked a walk to bring up Drew Wharton. Wharton has been swinging a hot bat on the season for the Tigers, but was 0-4 on the day coming to the plate. That didn't matter, as Wharton crushed a ball to right field that hit off the wall of the Cajun Cafe, just inches from being a homer. Jolly turned on the jets and scored the game winning run all the way from first base to give Clemson the walk off win and clinch the rivalry series for the fourth season in a row. Closer Ryley Gilliam earned his second win of the season, going 1.2 innings in relief.

The Tigers improve to 10-1 and will return to Doug Kingsmore Stadium to take on instate foe Wofford Tuesday night at 6:30.