After over a year without playing each other in a competition, the Clemson Tigers and South Carolina Gamecocks battled on the mound this weekend for the Palmetto Series in College Baseball. In a series that was supposed to be three games ended up only being two this weekend, as Game one of the series on Friday was postponed to May 11th due to inclement weather. While this storied rivalry was delayed, it was back and was amazing to see these two teams competing against each other once again, and one more time in May. Game Two was played in Greenville at Flour Field, home of the Greenville Drive while the Gamecocks hosted the Sunday matchup in Founders Park on a beautiful day in Columbia.  

The ranked Gamecocks were heavy favorites in this contest but in a rivalry game like this it was still up for grabs, especially in a game like baseball where you not only need to win a game, but you also need to win the series too, and that’s what South Carolina did. In both games in the series Clemson and South Carolina were both unable to pass one another and stalled for many innings. Saturday’s game had to go to extra innings, where finally South Carolina’s talent and depth made head way. In extra innings South Carolina’s Andrew Eyster hit a walk off ball to lead the Gamecocks to victory over the Tigers in epic fashion, winning 3-1.  

If you thought that would be Eyster’s only walk off this weekend you were wrong, as Eyster did the exact same thing in Game two at Founders Park sending the ball way out into the parking lot at Founders Park. This gave the Gamecocks an 8-7 win against the Tigers and would mean the Gamecocks won the series, leading 2-0 until the May 11th postponed game, which now doesn’t matter much, as Gamecocks will look for a sweep and Clemson will look to get one win out of the series.  

This was a monumental series win for the Gamecocks, as South Carolina lost to the Tigers last season and it was absolutely critical for 4-year Head Coach Mark Kingston to win the series this season. As Kingston said in his closing press conference, baseball is back in South Carolina and both of these teams will have great success this season.  

With this series win over the Tigers, the Gamecocks now lead the Tigers 4-1 in contests this year, with Women’s Soccer, Softball, and game three of the baseball series left to be played. The Tigers one win comes against the South Carolina Men’s Soccer team earlier this year.