Columbia Conquered: Tigers clinch rivalry series in Gamecocks' backyard

Nick Hoffmann had plenty of run support after he left, not giving up an earned run over five frames (Photos by Susan Lloyd).

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Sat Mar 05 19:24:37 GMT-04:00 2022

COLUMBIA – Two games in Columbia. Two wins for Clemson.

The Tigers (10-0) continued an unbeaten 2022 run with a 10-2 win Saturday in front of over 9,000 fans at Segra Park, notching Clemson’s first 2-0 start in the three-game, three-stadium rivalry series format.

Clemson goes for the first series sweep in the format that stretches back to 2010 on Sunday at home and a first season sweep of the Gamecocks (7-3) since 1999 (in two games that year – would be the most wins over South Carolina in a season since 1996).

"We will enjoy this on the way home tonight," Tigers head coach Monte Lee said, "but when it comes time to play tomorrow, we need to be focused and we need to understand that we're playing in our home ballpark in front of our crowd and we need to play our best ballgame of the weekend in front of our crowd tomorrow."

After being limited to one hit over the first three innings, Clemson got to Gamecocks starter Noah Hall (0-1) in the fourth.

Tigers catcher Cooper Ingle reached on an infield single with one out, then Bryar Hawkins rifled a single to right field and Hall walked the next batter to load the bases. Hall’s day was done there and he watched from the dugout as reliever Cade Austin’s wild pitch tied things up and Clemson left fielder Chad Fairey vaulted the Tigers on top with a two-run single back to right field. Hall’s day in the statbook was done there with three earned runs on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings.

Benjamin Blackwell tagged one more run on with an RBI single to charge one to Austin and complete a four-run frame on four hits.

Clemson picked up another run in the fifth after Gamecocks shortstop Michael Braswell air-mailed a double-play attempt throw over the first baseman, allowing Tyler Corbitt to come around from second to score.

After Tigers starter Nick Hoffmann (2-0) departed after five innings, South Carolina got one back in the sixth with its first hit with a runner in scoring position on the series (0-for-its-prevous-14 attempts), but Clemson reliever Ty Olenchuk stranded a Gamecock on third base to end the threat.

Hoffmann’s lone run surrendered was unearned, allowing five hits with one strikeout on the day.

"He kept doing what he does, which is just pound the strike zone," Lee said. "He gave us a chance going five-deep. I thought our bullpen again did an outstanding job."

Tigers third baseman Max Wagner led off the sixth with a double and later scored on a wild first pitch from Gamecocks reliever Michael Esposito. Later in the effort, Caden Grice left the bases loaded with a grounder, dropping to 1-for-9 with five strikeouts at that point in the series.

Gamecocks pitching ran into more trouble in the seventh, with three Tigers crossing the plate on just one Clemson hit, with two scoring via bases-loaded walks. The Tigers reached double-digits in the next inning on a Wagner RBI single.

The middle and bottom of the Clemson order did some work on Saturday, with the 4-through-7 hitters all scoring multiple runs and 7-hole spot Fairey and 9-hole spot Blackwell tallying multiple RBIs. Hitting in the fifth spot, Hawkins posted his fifth-consecutive multi-hit game.

"It takes off of a lot of pressure (from the pitchers)," Hoffmann said of what the Clemson lineup is doing right now. "I got trust in everybody in the lineup, all throughout the order, playing and not playing. They're going to do their job and stick to their approach and end up finding a way to score runs and help find us ways to win ballgames."

Clemson's 10-0 start is the best since 2002 (a 13-0 start).

"We're off to a great start. Again, could we ask for a better start? I don't think so," Lee said. "But we know we've got a long way to go. We have a lot of baseball to play. We've got a game tomorrow. The big thing for us is just respecting the game. It's just playing the game the right way. It's understanding now the biggest challenge for us is that we've already won the series and now we've got to go in tomorrow and can we play a complete game of baseball? We made some mistakes tonight. Can we play a complete game of baseball at home tomorrow and continue to get better and better? We want to continue to get better as the season goes on...Last year was last year. I'm done talking about last year. I've talked about it enough. This group of guys really competes and competes together. They're very selfless. Everybody does their job. I think that they've bought in about as good as I could ask them to.

"But we also understand that it's only 10 games into the season. We've got a long way to go and we want to get better as the season progresses."

The series will conclude with a 3 p.m. start at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on Sunday (ACCN). Tigers RHP Nick Clayton (0-0, 9.53 ERA) will take the mound against a South Carolina pitcher to be announced.

"We want to sweep tomorrow," Hoffmann said. "We want to win another game tomorrow. We're back in Clemson, so we love our fans and we can't wait to get there and play there tomorrow."