Untimely errors undo Clemson's unblemished record in Columbia
Columbia, SC -- The Tigers and Gamecocks treated fans in attendance at Founders Park to a great opening series matchup as a walk-off fly ball gave the home team a 3-2 win in the Reedy River Rivalry.
For the third consecutive season Clemson fell short in game one, but the Tigers have gone on to win both of those series so buckle up.
Tonight's opening game was a pitchers duel in the early innings as both Jacob Hennessey and the Gamecock's Adam Hill went toe-to-toe.
Hennessey pitched 5.0 innings giving up three hits and one earned run while Hill tossed 7.0 solid innings with 14 strikeouts for the Gamecocks.
Monte Lee called the performance, "One of the best I've seen in my time as a baseball coach. You've gotta give that man credit. He was as good as it gets."
At one point Hill struck out seven consecutive Tiger batters.
While the pitchers were battling, the temperatures began to dip, but finally, some runs were produced in Columbia.
The Gamecocks were the first to strike pushing across a run in the bottom of the fifth inning with a little help from the Tiger's Grayson Byrd.
What looked to be a routine infield fly ball to second gave Byrd some difficulty. Byrd misplayed the ball which allowed Jonah Bride to score from third. All runners were safe, but Clemson managed to escape the inning without any further damage.
Lee said, "It happens. It was a popup. It's the first time we've played under the lights. It's not an excuse, we've got to make the play. We make a good pitch; we get a popup that would have ended the inning. Byrdie just didn't make a play."
The Tigers answered in the next frame.
Opening the sixth inning, Logan Davidson drew a walk and then Clemson's Seth Beer stepped to the plate.
Last season trailing 3-2 with two outs and a full count in the top of the ninth inning, Seth Beer's moonshot helped propel the Tigers to a series win in Columbia. Apparently, nobody reminded Hill of that fact, or he just didn't care.
Beer smashed the first pitch he saw deep to centerfield giving Clemson a 2-1 lead in front of a vocal South Carolina crowd.
The Tigers would hold on to the lead until the bottom of the eighth inning. Pinch-hitting for Adam Row, the Gamecocks Matt Williams tied the game at 2 with a deep ball that landed in the South Carolina bullpen.
In the top of the ninth inning, Eddy Demurias struck out the final two Clemson batters giving the Gamecocks a chance to win the game in the bottom half of the inning.
Bride drew a walk from Clemson's Ryley Gilliam to open the final inning.
That's when another error cost the Tigers.
During a pickoff attempt to first base, Gilliam and Chris Williams looked to have some sort of miscommunication that led to a throwing error giving the Gamecocks a runner on third with no outs.
On the play, Williams seemed to be moving in to field a bunt yet Gilliam was throwing over. The ball was behind Williams which allowed Bride to move over to third.
"Chris (Williams) just got a little anxious knowing that they were going to bunt. He vacated first base too early, which he can't do," Lee said. "We've got to go a better job of coaching him right there and making sure that he knows we've got to see bunt first. That was a mistake on our part, but that's our fault as coaches. We've got to do a better job of coaching our players making sure they understand in those situation what they are doing."
The Gamecocks brought in Danny Blair to pinch run for Bride.
Gilliam then struck out Jacob Olsen to get the first out of the inning. Gilliam walked Noah Campbell putting runners on the corners. Campbell took second on a first-pitch strike before a TJ Hopkins deep drive to left field electrifying the Gamecock crowd.
Blair raced home from third giving the Gamecocks a 3-2 win as the Garnet and Black faithful exchanged high-fives.
The series will resume with Game 2 in Greenville tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM.