COLUMBIA — Ryley Gilliam says he will never pick on Seth Beer again. Okay, maybe not this week.
Gilliam said following No. 12 Clemson’s 5-3 victory in 11 innings over No. 4 South Carolina on Sunday that he likes to give his roommate a hard time, especially when it comes to his athletic abilities or lack thereof.
However, Beer showed plenty of speed, agility and athletic ability over the weekend as his arms, legs and his bat lifted the Tigers to a third straight series victory over the Gamecocks.
“He saved my butt yesterday for sure. I owe him,” Gilliam said in regards to Saturday’s game saving throw to home plate to get South Carolina’s Jacob Olson out in the ninth. “He told me, ‘You have to call me fast now.’ I was like, ‘I will. I promise. No slow jokes anymore.’
“I just think he has this presence when he comes to the plate and plays for our team it just brings everybody’s levels up and even in the box its shows he can rattle even some of the best pitchers. Carolina has a lot of great pitchers, a great team and a great pitching staff, but he can rattle them and makes them make mistakes and he capitalizes on their mistakes.”
The mistake the Gamecocks (7-5) made on Sunday was a breaking ball. In fact, Josh Reagan threw six straight breaking balls before Beer caught his 3-2 pitch with two outs in the top of the ninth inning and sent it flying over the right field wall.
The home run tied the game at 3-3, and eventually sent it into extra innings, where it was another mistake by Gamecock pitching against Beer that allowed the Tigers (8-3) to win the game.
With freshman Logan Davidson on third base with one out in the top of the 11th inning, Beer stepped into the box hoping to get another opportunity. However, Tyler Haswell never gave him that chance. Haswell lost control of the baseball while trying to intentionally walk Beer and it went straight into the ground and between catcher Chris Cullen’s legs.
The baseball bounced all the way to the backstop, allowing Davidson to easily come home for the eventual game-winning run.
“I got loaded like I was getting ready to hit,” Beer said. “The guy kind of came up and got ready to throw it, and I don’t know if he was shocked. I don’t know what was going on. Maybe it was just luck or whatever. I was ready to hit in that situation and I don’t know if it took him off guard or what, but he threw it through the legs and that was a big run for us.”
Chase Pinder followed with an RBI single through the right side a few moments later for an insurance run, and Beer’s effect on the outcome of the game and the series was obvious. Pinder also had an RBI single in the seventh inning that came with two outs after the Gamecocks intentionally walked Beer to get to him.
“Look, I have the coached where I have faced that same situation, a lot,” Clemson head coach Monte Lee said. “Do you pitch to him or do you walk him to face the next guy? Here is what I will tell you. When you walk him to get to the next guy that guy winds up biting you.”
And this weekend, South Carolina was bitten a lot because of Beer. If it was not at the plate, it was with his defense, too. He not only made the throw to the plate on Saturday, but he made a sliding catch to steal a hit USC hit as well, and again played well in left field in Sunday’s win.
“I have worked extremely hard in the weight room when it came to running, speed, agility and all of that stuff,” Beer said. “I just wanted to get to a point where I can help my team out even when I was not hitting at my best.
“To be able to come in and play left field, a new position for me, and to have the trust and confidence from the coaching staff that I can run and track balls out there, obviously, that brought a smile to my face.”
And it brought Clemson another win over the Gamecocks.