Tigers Bite Back in Greenville to even series with Gamecocks

Photo Courtesy of Anna Rose Chappell @AR_Chappell

GREENVILLE, SC -- After the Gamecocks won in walk-off fashion, 3-2, on Friday night in Columbia, Clemson and South Carolina would continue the three-game series in Greenville, SC with a afternoon game at Fluor Field, home of the Greenville Drive.

Clemson would take revenge for Friday night's loss with a 5-1 victory over the Gamecocks.

For Clemson, Brooks Crawford came out on fire with two early strikeouts in the first inning. The bottom half of the inning showed spark for the Tigers as Carolina RHP Kody Morris walked both Davison and Beer to start the inning. Three pitches later, Patrick Cromwell dribbled one back to Morris for the double play.

Clemson had a chance to put the first points on the board in the second inning with a base hit from Jolly and a ground-rule double from Wharton, putting runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs.

However, Morris got out of the jam by striking out the Tigers next three batters to end the inning.

With the momentum of Morris' exit to the previous inning, South Carolina had something brewing with runners at 1st and 2nd, but Carlos Cortes popped out to Williams at first for the third out.

To start off the bottom half of the third, Davidson singled up the middle for Clemson. Following the single, Seth Beer added a base hit to right that moved Davidson over the third. Patrick Cromwell would put the Clemson on the board first with a sacrifice fly to the outfield that scored Davidson.

Clemson held a 1-0 lead entering the fourth inning, but it didn't last for long. Madison Stokes stepped to the plate to leadoff the inning for the Gamecocks. On a full-count from Crawford, Stokes crushed a single-shot over the "Green Monster" in left field to tie up the Reedy River Rivalry.

In the bottom of the inning, after two walks, Cody Morris' day came to a close with 4 strikeouts and 6 walks. Gage Hinson came out of the bullpen in relief.

In the first batter he faced, Hinson struck out Wilkie. He would then walk Davidson to load the bases with only one out and Seth Beer due up. Beer would hit a sacrifice fly deep to centerfield that scored Byrd. Cromwell would add to the strong offensive inning with a RBI single, but the Tigers added nothing further. Clemson would lead 3-1 after 4 innings at Fluor Field.

Brooks Crawford's day concluded in the fifth for the Tigers, after throwing 4.2 innings allowing just 3 hits and 1 run to pair with 3 walks and strikeouts.

In the bottom half of the inning, Kyle Wilkie would capitalize off of two early walks from Gamecock pitcher TJ Shook with a one out single to right field that brought home Jolly and Wharton and extended the Clemson lead to 5-1.

The Gamecocks found themselves with runners on 1st and 2nd with one out and Matt Williams at the plate in the sixth, but after a double play, they found themselves with no runs to account for in the inning.

Both teams would exchange fairly quiet innings the rest of the way.

The series finale and rubber match will be in Clemson tomorrow at 2:00 pm. Jake Higginbotham (2-0; 0.73 ERA) will be on the mound for Clemson, and Coach Mark Kingston said that they have yet to decide on a starter.