Best moments from South Carolina-Clemson baseball

South Carolina will begin its annual rivalry series with the Clemson Tigers Friday night.

Before the series begins, let’s take a look at some of the best moments in the rivalry.

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Andrew Eyster’s back-to-back walk-off hits

After game one of the 2021 series was rained out, both teams waited until Saturday in Greenville to play.

In the 11th inning, Clemson failed to capitalize with runners in scoring position, South Carolina had a chance to steal a win.

Brady Allen laced a 1-1 pitch into right center field for a leadoff double. Following a strikeout and intentional walk, Andrew Eyster came up to the plate with a chance to be the hero.

On a 1-2 pitch, Eyster smacked an RBI double into center field, giving the Gamecocks the walk-off win.

“Right there, I was just trying to put the bat on the ball, especially with two series,” Eyster said after the game. “I knew that if I could at least make contact, I’d have at least a chance of moving guys over and scoring them.”

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When the series shifted over to Founders Park the next day, Eyster found himself in a similar spot.

With Sunday’s game tied at seven in the bottom of the ninth, Eyster hit a single into right center to bring home Allen from second base for the game-winning run. South Carolina came away with an improbable victory yet again.

“It’s pretty crazy — pretty much the exact situation, with Brady on second and Wes (Clarke) on first,” Eyster said. “I don’t think it could’ve been drawn up any better.”

Winning in Omaha not once but twice

It’s not often two rivals get to square off on college baseball’s grandest stage. But South Carolina and Clemson managed to play each other twice in the College World Series.

In 2002, the Tigers won three of their four regular season games against their rival. However, the Gamecocks came away with the last laugh.

Both teams were at the top of their game and made it to Omaha where they’d eventually play one another. All Clemson needed to do was win one game and it would advance to the championship game. Instead, South Carolina outscored the Tigers 22-6 in two games to advance to face Texas.

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Eight years later, a similar scenario arose. Once again, South Carolina had lost the season series, winning one game. But all that changed later that year.

With another trip to the championship series at stake, South Carolina won game one behind a complete game from first-time starter Michael Roth.

In game two, Christian Walker and Adrian Morales broke a 2-2 tie with consecutive RBI singles. Those hits led the Gamecocks back to the championship series, where they defeated UCLA to win their first national title.

Gamecock offense breaks school record with most runs in a game

In 1997, Ray Tanner’s second season as head coach, South Carolina did something that hadn’t been done before.

In the final game of the season series with the Tigers, the Gamecocks scored a school record 38 runs to win 38-16.

At the time, South Carolina was second in the nation in runs scored per game. The offense squeaked out 30 hits and seven home runs in the win.

Ryan Bordenick tied the school record for hits in a game with six and RBIs with nine on a homer and two doubles.

Adam Everett and Rob Stretcher each had four hit games and drove in nine of the team’s runs.

Ryan Szwejbka also had a memorable night at the plate, finishing 3-for-6 with a homer and seven RBIs. Those RBIs accounted for 21 percent of his total runs driven in throughout the 1997 season.

To add injury to insult, the 38 runs were the most Clemson had ever allowed in a game up to that point.

Meeting again in the postseason

Evan Marzilli always dreamed of facing Clemson in the playoffs and making a big play. His wish came true in 2012.

South Carolina found themselves in a familiar spot, the No. 8 national seed and hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. 

A surprise came as the seeds were announced. Clemson joined the Gamecocks as the No. 2 seed in the Columbia regional.

All that would need to happen would be two wins and those hated rivals would see each other in a postseason game for the first time since 2010.

After an easy 7-0 win from South Carolina and Clemson drubbing Coastal Carolina 11-3, it happened.

“I couldn’t wait to play them. And having them in our regional at home, it does change things. Definitely more pressure, but it makes it a whole lot more fun,” Marzilli said.

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In the 12th inning of game one, LB Dantzler stepped up to the plate with a chance to cement himself in the history books.

“I remember all right, well, here we go. And I was super excited. You know, I was pumped, this is my chance. I can win this thing,” Dantzler said. 

On a chest-high 2-2 pitch, Dantzler clobbered a walk-off single over the right fielder’s head and into the wall. This was the moment he had been waiting for.

South Carolina would go on to win the regional with a 4-3 win over the Tigers the next day. Jordan Montgomery picked up the victory behind 6.2 innings of two-run ball. 

“It’s always good to beat Clemson. Especially the background I had growing up a Clemson fan and not getting any, even like a letter from Clemson,” Montgomery said. “I was glad to be one of the people to send them home.”

The Gamecocks went on to lose to the Arizona Wildcats in their third consecutive trip to the College World Series.

A stare down for the ages

Rivalries can sometimes bring the emotions out of a player. That was the case for Reid Morgan when he faced Clemson in 2019.

After cruising through the first two batters in the second inning, Morgan faced Tigers centerfielder Bryce Teodosio. On an 0-1 pitch, Teodosio did something Morgan didn’t take kindly to.

“He fouled off a pitch and ended up running down to first base and casually walked back,” Morgan said after the game. “It kind of fired me up to see that he walked back and took his time to get into the box.”

While Teodosio slowly walked back, Morgan stared him down until he got back into the batter’s box.

On the next pitch, Morgan got Teodosio to chase at an 83 mile per hour pitch on the outside corner to end the frame. But the Gamecock pitcher wasn’t done yet after winning the battle.

“Once I struck him out was when I got fired up and looked at him the whole way back to the dugout,” Morgan said with a smile. “It was fun to do that.”

Morgan went on to pitch 6.2 strong innings to give South Carolina the series win.

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