After Saturday’s win over No. 18 South Carolina in Greenville, Clemson head coach Monte Lee had no idea who his starting pitcher was going to be for Sunday’s game in Clemson. By the end of the night, he and pitching coach Andrew See decided to go with freshman Alex Eubanks.

It was a good choice.

Eubanks was magnificent in the Tigers’ 4-1 victory over the Gamecocks at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The victory, coupled with Saturday’s win in Greenville, gave the Tigers a 2-1 win in the three-game series.

Eubanks went 7 1/3 innings allowing just one run on six hits, while striking out eight Gamecocks.

“It all started on the mound for us with Alex Eubanks,” Lee said afterwards. “He did an excellent job.”

After giving up a couple of hits early in the game, Eubanks settled in and kept the Gamecocks off-balance for the rest of the afternoon. USC did get a run in the top of the fourth inning as Gene Cone scored on Dom Thompson-Williams’ double.

The Gamecocks (10-2) got nothing after that.

“I was just trying to pitch to my strengths and just let my defense work,” Eubanks said. “They did a phenomenal job the whole game. That was kind of the game plan going in and we tried to stick with it the whole game.”

Eubanks said he could not have asked for a better first start.

“It was definitely awesome because (Clemson) is the only place I wanted to play,” he said. “It was really cool for my first start to be against our rival, and it was definitely fun.”

The Tigers (8-2) took a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Andrew Cox singled to right center field to bring home Chris Okey and Robert Jolly. Okey led off the inning with a walk and then Jolly singled through the left side to put runners on first and second with no outs.

Adam Renwick moved both runners up with a sacrifice bunt down the first base line, setting up Cox’s two-run base hit. Cox, who is known as “Rudy,” started in the place of Chris Williams at first base. Williams had been struggling at the plate.

“We felt we needed to give Rudy an opportunity. Rudy is just a team-guy,” Lee said. “When we have given Rudy a pinch hit at-bat, he has stepped up and hit the ball on the barrel a couple of times. I felt like we needed to give Chris some time to see what he could do and he struggled a little bit. Chris is going to be a big part of this team and a big part of this offense throughout the course of this year, but we felt like the match up was good with (Taylor) Widener being a right-hander.

“Rudy has been playing well with the limited opportunities I have given him and he has taken advantage of them. He is the ultimate team player and I wanted to give him an opportunity and he did a great job for us.”

Clemson grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Renwick led off the inning by reaching after Widener hit him. Then Chase Pinder, who won the Bob Bradley Award as Clemson’s best player in the series, singled down the right field line, plating Renwick with the game’s first run. Reed Rohlman followed with a double to left-center field to score Pinder and the Tigers had a 2-0 advantage.

This is the second straight year the Tigers have won the season-series against South Carolina. In Games 2 and 3, Clemson pitching held the Gamecocks to 2-of-16 hitting with runners on base and 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

It was a very gratifying series win for Lee, who spent six seasons at USC as an assistant coach.

“I’m just so proud of the way our team played,” Lee said. “Yes, it is very gratifying. It is extremely gratifying because I’m from the state of South Carolina and I have lived here my whole life. I have coached here my whole life, every stop along the way. I have been blessed to live in this great state.

“It is so special to me to be a part of this rivalry and to win this series and to be a part of this team. My guys did it. I did not do anything. I really didn’t. I sat back and watched a group of players compete between the lines and have had do it together.”

Clemson will play Winthrop on Wednesday at 4 p.m.