The heated baseball rivalry between Clemson and South Carolina won’t be the same after events of the past week.

Last November Greenville High pitcher John Parke gave a verbal commitment to play baseball for Clemson.  He committed as a preferred walk-on to the Tigers.  As late as last week Parke talked with the Clemson staff and was very excited about playing for the Tigers.

Parke is having an outstanding senior season and is 5-1 with a 1.56 ERA.

Over the weekend Parke visited South Carolina and has now decided to switch his commitment to the Gamecocks.  After hearing about the visit the Clemson staff worked the situation Sunday night and Monday after returning from their weekend series at Miami.  Earlier this week the Clemson staff decided to back off the recruitment of Parke.

Many that follow football recruiting might think this is just normal heated recruiting among rivals.  Well, not so fast.  Baseball recruiting is not the same as football recruiting, not as cut throat.  The normal process in baseball recruiting is that once a player is committed, the recruitment from other schools ends.  That did not happen in this case.

South Carolina had some help in getting Parke to flip to the Gamecocks.  Greenville High head coach Steve Scolamiero’s son, Clark, is committed to the Gamecocks and pitching coach Erik Hemphill is a former Gamecock.  Sources tell TCI that both were instrumental in Parke’s flip.

TCI has learned that the Clemson staff has expressed their concerns over Parke’s recruitment to the staff at South Carolina.  “The gloves are off” according to one source.