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Grayson Greiner recounts some of his favorite memories from playing days as a Gamecock

imageby:Jack Veltri•08/14/23•

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Grayson Greiner (Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports)

Grayson Greiner couldn’t have gotten a better 2-0 pitch to hit.

As soon as the ball came out of Clemson right-hander Daniel Gossett’s hand, it was going to travel a long way. And it did. Greiner swung through the pitch over the middle of the plate and watched it soar over the left field fence at Founders Park. It was a grand slam that cut Clemson’s lead over South Carolina to one.

And it would be the spark the offense needed to pull away late and defeat the Tigers 9-6 in the 2014 edition of the rivalry series. For Greiner, it’s one of the better memories of his baseball journey.

“Every time I hear it, it brings back some good memories,” Greiner said in an appearance on The Garnet Trust Hour on 107.5 The Game.

While it was a cool moment for Greiner to hit that home run in a big spot, it’s not his favorite memory from playing baseball at South Carolina.

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“Going to the national championship as a freshman is number one for me,” Greiner said. “I mean, the whole reason you come to a program like this is not for individual anything. It’s about getting to Omaha and trying to win it all.”

But in Greiner’s only trip to the College World Series in 2012, he happened to be on the losing end. South Carolina’s quest for a three-peat was thwarted by a red-hot Arizona team that ran through the gauntlet in Omaha.

“I have a very vivid memory, it’s a bad memory of walking past the Arizona dogpile because I made the last out in that national title game, which stunk,” he said.

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However, there were undoubtedly more good times than there were bad. In three seasons as a Gamecock, he hit .277 with 18 homers and 120 RBI.

Another favorite memory of Greiner’s was his walk-off grand slam against Tennessee in 2014. Trailing by six runs heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Gamecocks cut the deficit to three. They managed to bring Greiner up to the dish as the winning run. As a result, he got a pitch up in the zone and hammered it into left to win the game.

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Little did Greiner know but the play would gain national attention. It landed at the No. 1 spot on that night’s SportsCenter Top 10 plays.

“We were like, man we might have a chance at SportsCenter. So like 10, 9 and 8 come and we’re like, ‘Dang, we didn’t make it.’ They’re probably not putting college baseball on top 10 plays. I mean, as a kid, you grew up watching top 10 every night. And then number one comes and it’s me and Jordan (Gore), and the whole house goes nuts,” Greiner said.

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