GREENVILLE – It’s finally time to start the baseball rivalry between South Carolina and Clemson. The Gamecocks (4-0) and Tigers (3-0) are scheduled for a first shot at 4 pm at Fluor Field in the first game of the rivalry series, after the scheduled start at Clemson was postponed due to bad weather.
The Gamecocks, under the head coach of the fourth year Mark Kingston, will send right-handed launcher Thomas Farr to the mount for his second match in the series of rivalry in his career. The Tigers will counterattack with Davis Sharpe, who is making his third game in the series.
It is a typical formation for Gamecocks.
South Carolina
RF Brady Allen
CF Braylen Wimmer
DH Wes Clarke
RF Andrew Eyster
1B David Mendham
Ç Colin Burgess
3B Brennan Milone
2B Jeff Heinrich
WL George Callil
Clemson
2B Elijah Henderson
RF Dylan Brewer
1B Bryar Hawkins
WL James Parker
C Jonathan French
LF Alex Urban
3B Blake Wright
DH Caden Grice
CF Bryce Teodosio
ELEVENTH TIME: Kerry back on the mound in 48 shots. Starts Brewer with a stroke. He goes after 2-1, but then makes him swing a fast ball raised to 2-2. Walk with him. Hawkins chooses on the right side. Heinrich took a long time to move there. I don’t know if he would have noticed, but he should have come close. He wasn’t there. For some reason, Brewer ranks second. This is going to be for Kerry. Gamecocks bringing Sanders, a good guy on the floor. Sanders is 3-1 behind for Parker, the clean-up hitter who tied the game. Double game ball. Sanders leads 1-0 for the French. Corridor on the third. He takes a 1-1 blow that doesn’t come close. Now it’s 1-2. Burgess blocks a really difficult pitch on the ground. Low ball for Callil. 6-3. Gamecocks are activated. … Allen with a double to the right center to start the entry. Myers up. Ks at a bunt. But daggone Andrew Eyster, who has been remarkable against Clemson, directs a quick 1-2 ball over the midfielder’s head to end this one. Carolina wins 3-2
TENTH ENTRY: Kerry back on the hill. He receives a pop-out to start the inning. Teodosio takes a shot outside the box to hit the target. He goes on strikes. Henderson falls looking for a broken ball in a 0-2 shot to end the inning. I’m sure it was a foot out. … Colin Burgess hits a drive line to the left. Urban plays perfectly off the wall in dirty territory and throws Burgess out on second base. Carolina will challenge the call. Ball beat him by a kilometer, but they hope he somehow avoided the mark. Call in wait. Milone falls in attacks. Heinrich drops one to the right. Callil falls into attacks. Result tied 2-2
NINTH ENTRY: You could kind of feel it coming. Carolina didn’t push these guys away. Kerry hangs a 0-2 ball and is pushed over the left field wall to tie Parker’s score. Guy. French Ks. Urban hits a 390-foot flying ball, but it is for a 400-foot part of the park. Two have already gone. Wright falls in attacks to foreclose the entrance. … Gilbert, the closest, to launch for Clemson. Clarke picks up a ball that appeared to be up, but too close to be taken, for hit three. Eyster falls behind at 0-2. Strikes. Mendham also hits some fast balls. Result tied 2-2
EIGHT INNING: Bosnic hits Grice with a 2-0 fastball. He pastored him, which still counts. Meade comes to the mountain for a visit. Brett Kerry will enter. Teodosio can’t lower his butt, so he can’t control his swing on a ball on the ground to hit. The top of the order is now active. He appears to Heinrich in second with Brewer. Pitching runs away from Burgess, and level the race now in the goal position. Brewer with a daddy hack in a 3-1 pitch, but misses. He takes a shot inside, I think. I called my phone to watch. He was in there. Kerry goes ahead of Hawkins with a breaking ball. Then 0-2 with another one. Then another. Three outs away. … Milone takes another walk, and RHP Pandya enters. Hit Heinrich on three breaking balls. The first two he wanted to hunt. Callil flies to the right, bringing Allen. He first throws doubles to the left. Two in a scoring position for Myers. They’ll let you knock, it seems. I think they need it. He swings down on a breaking ball to finish the inning. Carolina leads 2-1
SEVENTH TIME: Bosnic comes in to shoot and takes the Frenchman swinging to a ball that almost fell on his back foot. Bos returns 3-1 to K Urban. And then Ks Wright on a fast high ball to end the turn. … Myers, pinching for Wimmer, descends in attacks on Anglin. So did Clarke. Eyster and Mendham play singles to the left, but Burgess rebounds 6-3 to close the entry. Carolina leads 2-1
SIXTH ENTRY: Farr returns to the mound with 71 shots and moves forward with a foul ball in the first shot over hitter Henderson. He leaves for the center. Brewer lines up a single 2-1 in the center. This guy can beat. Complete count for Hawkins. I don’t know where the pitch failed. It felt like a blow to me. It is the second time that I say this today. Runner was stealing in the field. Brewer was eliminated in the fall, but it was a hike, so it’s his purse. But he leaves the base and is marked by Callil. Then, a helicopter from Parker to Callil, and he gets the strength in the second to finish the entry. Farr in 85 shots. … Milone is swinging the first shot and jumps to the second baseman. Heinrich jumps out. Callil lines up a single first step to the left field. Allen needs a good stick here. Allen goes down looking at a field he didn’t like. Carolina leads 2-1
FIFTH INNING: Wright falls looking for Farr’s third blow. Grice falls into attacks. Believe me, Farr pulled that cord. Farr punches the side, making Teodosio hit looking for a quick ball to close the entry. Farr in 71 shots. … RHP Mack Anglin, who shoots hard, comes into play and gets two quick kills. Clarke hits a security guard for third place and Eyster back on the mound. Mendham hits a slow roll for the first, which Anglin throws in the bag to extend the inning, but Burgess flies to the right to end the inning. Carolina leads 2-1
INNING ROOM: Brewer, the hitter that I highlighted as the key to the Tigers series, jumps a double into the first base bag to start the inning. Hawkins gets a little barrel for a quick 3-2 ball, but lines up for Eyster for the first inning exit. Parker jumps a first throw back in the middle to tie the score to one each. I think there was an intersection at the sign over there. Burgess did not seem ready to catch what was to come, but he was hit in the center anyway. Mendham takes a pop-up from his bank. Two have already gone. Urban leaves for the second to finish the entry. Farr is on 59 shots. … Milone takes a ball away to go level at 2-2. Fastball high takes it all. After losing two shots, Milone hits a double in the left corner of the field. Heinrich hits a quick 2-2 ball in the corner. Throw a ball into the center of a single. Lake does everything he can to retain Milone, and Milone does everything he can to ignore the call. The people in front of me got up, so I didn’t see exactly what happened, but the launch didn’t hit the plate. Gamecocks back at the top. Callil is trying to chase Heinrich, who ends up second. And they still try to arrest you, but it doesn’t work. Catcher makes the move and Heinrich has to hold. Allen falls on a fast ball that was going down the pipe. It is not what I expected from him in recent games. After a failed pickoff that sent Heinrich to third place, Wimmer fell in the 0-2 count. Break the ball leaves Wimmer in attacks. Sharpe is in his game this year, for sure. Carolina leads 2-1.
THIRD INNING: Milone has almost no confidence in third base. Targeting your pitches. Strike your way and it hits you easily, but the shot is towards the corridor. Mendham makes a beautiful move. Grice commits a quick total counting ball after starting the 3-0 count. Go down looking for a breaking ball inside. Clemson is being aggressive. They are hunting that fastball. Teodosio takes a big hit on the first and misses, but hits a clear ground on the right side on the second. One activated, two eliminated. Farr blows Henderson’s fastball into a full-count pitch to end the inning. He is on 42 shots in three innings. … Clarke and Eyster fall into strikes, both in breaking balls. Mendham jumps on the first shot and drops to the center to extend the inning. Burgess makes a 3-1 shot just below the neck for a strike, then is frozen in an internal break ball to finish the inning. Carolina leads 1-0
SECOND INNING: Farr moves on in the 1-2 count for Parker, the clean-up hitter, who throws an outside shot to a single. The Frenchman opens a 3-1 pitch to Mendham at the start, which makes the game an adventure, but manages to catch it. Farr didn’t come out of the stretch so fast with his fast ball up. Farr takes Parker. That had to be 95 for first base. Very good work from Mendham. One of my old Canes, Alex Urban, gets up and fouls with a low speed shot to 2-2 in the count. Then he swings and loses a breaking ball to finish the inning. … Sharpe showing his breaking ball too early. Throw three of them to Milone in the first four shots, and the score is 2 to 2, then miss with a fast ball down. It didn’t leave, based on what Blue has been calling. Work a walk. Heinrich throws a perfect bunt to the third base line and the pitch takes the man out of the first base of the bag. Two for Callil in an obvious bunt situation. Bola 2 moves away from the Frenchman, moving the runners-up. Bunt off. Callil commits a foul, so he can’t control his swing. 2-2. Callil fails to discover this slider. It goes down in strikes. Allen takes a 1-2 quick ball in the inner half. That was a move to jump there. Makes it swing on a slider. Two exits. I was about to miss out on a golden opportunity without a success from the Corona freshman. Wimmer goes backwards 1-2 knocking down a broken ball. He swings down on the break ball to finish the inning. Great opportunity missed there. Carolina leads 1-0
FIRST TIME: Thomas Farr to the hill. We are starting this game three minutes early. I love that. Pumping fast ball after fast ball. It makes Henderson jump to Milone in the second shot of the game, then Brewer to attack deeply. I had my eyes down typing on the computer, but he does Hawkins looking to end his shift. I’m not sure what tone it was, since I wasn’t watching it. All the media is in the lobby, so no videos are played for me. I forgot the iPad. Woe is me. … Brady Allen jumps on a fast ball from the first pitch and aligns a single to the center. Wimmer defeats him on the first pitch. Clarke gets up and goes forward 3-0 in the count in three shots that are not particularly close. Then, he receives a green light in a 3 to 0 field and aligns a single lap in the middle. It almost killed the launcher. Single RBI. Eyster takes a quick 1-2 ball from the plate to make it 2-2. He goes down looking at a broken ball that he thought was not in the zone. Two less for Mendham. (I called my phone so I could see the replays. That breaking ball was right outside. Teodosio is playing really deep and Mendham bloops a single in front of him to put the runners in the corners for Burgess. He hits a fast ball and out of the zone to start the hitting. A fast 1-1 ball is left behind to stay behind in the count. He bounces down a ball that is breaking to finish the inning. He will have to enter the tray because Blue likes to hit the plate there outside. Carolina leads 1-0