Tigers And Gamecocks One More Time

April 18, 2000

CLEMSON, S.C. – Another battle of two of the highest-ranked teams will ensue Wednesday night at 7:00 at Sarge Frye Field in Columbia when #6 Clemson (32-9) plays at #1 South Carolina. The Gamecocks defeated Clemson 6-3 last Wednesday in the team’s first meeting. South Carolina (37-4) has won 12 consecutive games and is ranked #1 in the nation by all three polls. The game will be broadcast on the Clemson Sports Network affiliates.

The game will be a matchup of similar styles. Clemson and South Carolina both have outstanding team ERAs, as the Tigers sport a 3.05 ERA while South Carolina has a 2.78 ERA. Clemson is hitting .287 while South Carolina is hitting .296 as a team. Clemson has a .387 on-base percentage while South Carolina has a .384 mark. Also of note, Clemson is 20-0 this season when it totals 10 hits or more in a game. On the other hand, South Carolina has not allowed its last 14 opponents to total 10 hits in a game. In fact, only seven times in 41 games has an opponent total 10 hits or more.

South Carolina is coming off a 15-0 win over Davidson Tuesday night. The Gamecocks have swept their last three SEC foes as well, including Alabama, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt. The Gamecocks are 26-2 at Sarge Frye Field in Columbia.

Clemson leads the all-time series 148-98-2 dating back to 1899. Clemson has won 12 of the last 15 meetings between the two as well. Clemson is 57-64-2 all-time against the Gamecocks in Columbia. Jack Leggett is 7-3 against South Carolina in Columbia as well. The last time Clemson went an entire season without defeating South Carolina at least once was 1985.

South Carolina, led by fourth-year Head Coach Ray Tanner, will start righthander Peter Bauer. Bauer has a perfect 7-0 record and 2.51 ERA in 10 starts. The 6-7 righthander from Silver Spring, MD also has struck out 59 while walking just 16 in 68.0 innings pitched this season. Last night, Clemson faced another imposing righthander, Elon’s Nathan Holcomb. Clemson had 10 hits and scored six runs in 6.0 innings off the 6-8 pitcher. Closer Scott Barber has a 1.97 ERA and eight saves in 59.1 innings. Perhaps the most impressive stat for the South Carolina pitchers is its .214 opponent batting average.

No regular Gamecock starter in the field is hitting above .333, but eight of the regulars are hitting .278 or better. Brennan Dees is hitting .333 with six homers and 33 RBIs, while Tripp Kelly is hitting ..306 with 12 homers and 38 RBIs. Brandon Pack is hitting .301 with 11 homers and a team-high 43 RBIs as well. South Carolina has hit 63 home runs this season. Clemson pitchers have allowed just nine homers, and with Sarge Frye’s smaller dimensions, a battle should ensue in the long ball department Wednesday night.

Clemson is coming off a 17-5 win over Elon Tuesday. The Tiger bats busted loose for 18 hits, led by Jeff Baker’s four. Ryan Riley and Casey Stone also added three hits apiece. The 17 runs, 11 of which were scored in the seventh inning, was a season-high. Baker leads the team with a .362 batting average along with a team-best 38 RBIs. Baker, a shortstop, and South Carolina shortstop Drew Meyer both played for the World Series Champion USA Junior National Team last summer. Ironically, Baker, the starting shortstop on the team, drove home Meyer with the winning run in the championship game, which was played in Taiwan.

On the injury front, Patrick Boyd is probable (hamstring), as is Michael Johnson (hip). Both started against Elon Tuesday night. Henr’ Stanley did not play against Elon and is questionable with a sore hand. Righthander Steve Reba, who has missed over a month, is listed as day-to-day.

Gamecocks Strike Early, Hand Tigers 6-3 Loss Last Wednesday

In front of the second largest crowd in Clemson history (6,134), #2 South Carolina downed #6 Clemson 6-3 on April 12. Drew Meyer’s first-inning home run put the Gamecoks ahead 2-0, as they never looked back. Brandon Pack added a home run as well. Michael Johnson led the Tigers with two singles, including a bases-loaded single off the fence, which scored just one run. Tiger starter Scott Berney suffered the loss for the third straight time, as he also allowed his first homer of the season. Kevin Lynn was Clemson’s bright spot on the mound, as he allowed just one hit and no runs in the final 3.1 innings. Kip Bouknight improved to 10-0 by going 8.0 innings, allowing seven hits and two earned runs while striking out nine. Scott Barber earned his eighth save.

Clemson Bidding for 10th Win Over #1-Ranked Team

Clemson has won nine games against a team ranked #1 by one of the major baseball polls in its history. Clemson plays at top-ranked South Carolina Wednesday at 7:00 PM. South Carolina is ranked #1 in all three polls. Clemson’s last win over a top-ranked team came at Florida State a season ago. Ironically, all nine wins over #1-ranked teams have come away from home. Clemson has won 19 games/matches against #1-ranked teams in all of its sports in history. The last non-baseball win over a #1-ranked team was by the Tiger men’s soccer team against Virginia in 1993. Never has a Clemson football or men’s basketball team beaten a #1-ranked team.

Clemson’s Nine Wins Over #1-Ranked Baseball Teams

Clemson 39-15 Against SEC Teams Under Leggett

In seven seasons under Head Coach Jack Leggett, Clemson has had tremendous success against the Southeastern Conference. Leggett’s record against the SEC as the Tigers’ skipper is 39-15 (.722), including 16 wins against top-25 teams. Leggett has at least a .500 record against all seven SEC schools he has faced while at Clemson. Below is a list of Leggett’s record at Clemson against each of the seven SEC member schools he has faced:

Overflow Crowd at Clemson-South Carolina Game in Tigertown

Tickets were hard to come by. In fact, it was nearly impossible to gain admittance to the Clemson-South Carolina game on April 12 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium because the game. Both teams were ranked in the top-six, not to mention the rivalry that exists in all sports between the two schools leads the fan frenzy. Lines of approximately 100 people gathered at each of the three gates before the gates were opened an hour-and-a-half before first pitch. Tickets were unavailable to the general public on gameday because tickets had been sold in advance and sold out. The official attendance was 6,134, second highest in Clemson history. The Clemson-South Carolina game in Columbia on April 19 was sold out before the first matchup between the two. The Tiger record crowd is 6,223 at the Clemson-North Carolina game on April 1, 1995. That game was played right after the Clemson Spring Football game. Clemson won that game 20-1.

Clemson & South Carolina to Play Four Times in 2001

College baseball fans in the state of South Carolina will have the opportunity to see the two in-state rivals play four times on the baseball diamond in 2001, as the two teams will meet twice in Columbia and twice at Clemson. The four games will be spread out over three separate weekends. Clemson will play host to the Gamecocks on March 3, a Saturday. The following day, the two teams will play at South Carolina. On April 18, a Wednesday, Clemson will play at South Carolina. A week later on April 25, Clemson will play host to South Carolina. The last season the two teams played four games against each other was in 1997.