This weekend was a big one for South Carolina Baseball and Clemson Baseball, as both teams had their first road tests and critical matchups.  

The 11-0 South Carolina Gamecocks would play their toughest opponent so far this season, #19 Texas. The Longhorns were coming off a 2-1 series win against Houston while the Gamecocks were coming off of a sweep against the Mercer Bears. This game would decide records before conference play and would really give a glimpse of what these two teams truly look like. The South Carolina Gamecocks would end up getting swept by the Longhorns as Texas dominated all weekend long proving their dominance over South Carolina. The Longhorns pitching staff really dominated the Gamecocks and allowed only six runs in the whole series, which is surprising considering how elite South Carolina’s hitting offense looked earlier this season. Texas did everything right this weekend against the Gamecocks and it cost the Gamecocks a series. 

With this weekend’s baseball action concluding, the Gamecocks were ranked #16 in Monday morning’s D1 Baseball poll, only falling four spots as the Texas Longhorns moved up nine spots to #10.  

After a hard series against Texas the schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Gamecocks, with Vanderbilt, Florida, Miss State, Ole Miss, and Arkansas on deck in the next few weeks. Those five teams make up the D1 Baseball top five. 

After a rough home series against Notre Dame, the Clemson Tigers went on the road for their first ACC road series against the North Carolina Tarheels in Chapel Hill. The Tigers were looking to rebound as they were struggling to find wins after losing the series against South Carolina. Clemson got one win out of the series vs Notre Dame and then had a brutal loss at home against undefeated USC Upstate, losing 12-2. Clemson would have a chance in Chapel Hill to re-ignite their season and get things back on track. The opposite happened for the Tigers, as the North Carolina Tarheels swept the Tigers in close matchups. Clemson dropped to 5-8 on the season, a record no one expected heading into the 2021 season.  

Clemson returns home this week with a midweek matchup vs Georgia State on Tuesday and then hosting the Virginia Tech Hokies this weekend. Tigers will look to get their lineup and squad together. 

As both the Tigers and Gamecocks suffered bad losses this weekend both programs can be reminded that this is College Baseball and things can change in an instant. Losing one or two series isn’t the death of your season as the 2021 season stretches through 56+ games. The Tigers could be sitting at 9-8 by next Monday with a win on Tuesday and a sweep this weekend, which would put them right back in ACC contention. Gamecocks have only lost three games so far all in one series against the Longhorns. Their season can easily be avenged this Tuesday at home vs Davidson and then this weekend at another crucial road game vs the #2 Vanderbilt Commodores, who have the best pitching core in the nation.