This weekend the South Carolina Gamecocks and Clemson Tigers baseball teams will face off in a three-game series known as the Palmetto Series. This weekend will be the first time the Tigers and Gamecocks have played since this series last season, as the two teams were unable to play in basketball and football this season, which is unprecedented. 

The series will have three different locations, with game one being at Clemson’s Doug Kingsmore Stadium, game two at Flour Field – Home of the Greenville Drive, and game three at South Carolina’s Founders Park. This is the first time that the series has been played In Greenville in two years, as this neutral location alternates between the Columbia Fireflies Stadium and the Greenville Drive. 

Coming into the weekend the South Carolina Gamecocks are ranked #17 in D1 Baseball’s poll, the highest regarded poll in college baseball, while the Clemson Tigers are unranked. Both Tigers and Gamecocks swept their opening weekend series, with both Gamecocks and Tigers playing teams from Ohio: Dayton and Cincinatti. Unlike Clemson, the South Carolina Gamecocks played a mid-week matchup, hosting Winthrop in a 12-4 Gamecocks win, hallmarked by South Carolina designated-hitter Wes Clarke, who had three home runs against the Eagles.   

The South Carolina Gamecocks are favored to win the series this weekend, but in the sport’s best rivalry game there will always be surprises and you truly never know what could happen. Gamecocks were also the favorites in last year’s matchup where Clemson won the series 2-1 in an amazing Sunday game at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, just a few weeks before the College Baseball season was postponed and eventually canceled due to COVID-19. The fact that both Tigers and Gamecocks will be on the mound this weekend is a wonder on its own, and no matter who win this weekend’s contest it’s a huge achievement for this rivalry to be renewed.  

Both the Clemson and South Carolina baseball programs are hoping for no inclement weather this weekend, as the radar is projecting mass amounts of rain throughout the weekend all over the state of South Carolina. Tigers and Gamecocks will hope to combat the weather and get the games in, or else this rivalry may once again not be played.  

Both teams will hope this weekend that the weather won’t have a major impact and that this series of deep rivals will finally be played again. We’ll know who the true best team in South Carolina is by the end of this weekend.