Clemson, Erik Bakich ready for 'best rivalry in college baseball'

CLEMSON — It’s been more than 20 years since Erik Bakich has been a part of the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry.

That will change on Friday when the Tigers and Gamecocks meet at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

Bakich spent one season as an assistant at Clemson in 2002 and continued to follow the Tigers and the Palmetto State rivalry from afar, before returning as the head coach at Clemson this past offseason.

He is excited to be back a part of the rivalry this weekend.

“This is the best rivalry in college baseball. That’s a privilege to get to say you’re able to compete in that and be a part of that. We know that the stage is the biggest. The lights are the brightest,” Bakich said. “It’s Clemson-South Carolina. It’s two programs, two teams, two fanbases who don’t like each other. And you know what? That’s a good thing. It’s a good rivalry for our state. It’s good for college baseball.”

Clemson enters the series against South Carolina having lost four consecutive games after being swept by UCF last weekend and falling to USC Upstate on Tuesday.

The Tigers will also be without ace Ryan Ammons this weekend due to an injury.

Still, Bakich believes his team will be ready to go and will compete well this weekend.

“We’re going to respect the rivalry. We’ll have the utmost respect for this rivalry by the way we prepare for it. And that’s been since Day 1. That’s been since our first team meeting we were talking about it,” Bakich said. “So our guys will be excited. We’ll be ready to go and play a much better brand of Clemson baseball this weekend.”

As for what Clemson will face this weekend, the Tigers are going up against a South Carolina team that is 9-0 on the year and outscoring opponents 11.7 runs to 2.2 runs per game.

As a team, South Carolina has hit 27 home runs, while allowing only two.

The Gamecocks will start Will Sanders on Friday, Noah Hall on Saturday and Jack Mahoney on Sunday. The three have combined for 38 strikeouts in 33 1/3 innings pitched.

“Power arms on the weekend. Power hitters. I mean they’re a power team,” Bakich said. “They’ve got guys with big arms that throw mid-to-upper 90s. They’ve got power hitting throughout their lineup. They’ve taken care of business with every team that they’ve played. There’s something to be said for that – whether they blow teams out or win 1-0 – they’ve been able to do a good job. It looks like a complete team. They’re good on all sides. And we’ll definitely have our work cut out for us. It’s going to be a big challenge, but we’ll be up for it.”