Clemson clinches rivalry series as South Carolina pitching falters
The Columbia Fireflies front office staff compared Saturday afternoon’s environment at Segra Park to every inn Mary and Joseph visited: There was no room.
The sold-out stadium of 9,070 — believed to be the largest in the history of the Clemson-South Carolina series — was packed with swirls of garnet and orange spilling outside the park and around the fences. The garnet slowly disappeared as the game went on with Clemson shaking off a slow start to beat South Carolina 10-2 and winning the rivalry series.
The Tigers (10-0) are three games away from matching a 13-0 start by the program’s 2002 team. They also have a chance to sweep the series against the Gamecocks (7-3) at 3 p.m. Sunday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson.
The only folks person than Clemson and its fanbase was a man named Jake, who proposed to his girlfriend, Annie, midway through the fourth inning. Annie said yes as “Marry You” by Bruno Mars blared across the park sound system. The Tigers were down 1-0 at that point, then rattled off four runs in the bottom half of the fourth.
Three of the four runs came during Chad Fairey’s at bat. With the bases loaded, Cade Austin came in to relieve South Carolina starter Noah Hall, who threw 3.1 innings on the day. A wild pitch on Austin’s third offering allowed Cooper Ingle to score. Fairey then nailed a two-RBI base hit to score Bryar Hawkins and Max Wagner and later scored on Benjamin Blackwell’s hit up the middle.
From there, Clemson scored a run in every inning, which included three in the bottom of the seventh with the help of four walks issued by Parker Coyne.
The Gamecocks’ five pitchers Saturday combined for 10 hits, nine walks and six wild pitches.
Clemson’s pitchers, led by starter Nick Hoffmann, combined to only give up one earned run on six hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
What was left of the South Carolina fanbase did see the Gamecocks score one more run in the top of the sixth when Andrew Eyster reached home on Kevin Madden’s hit. The team couldn’t get anything else going from there.
Clemson vs South Carolina baseball Game 3 schedule
Sunday: USC at Clemson, 3 p.m. (ACC Network)
