During his five inning, 10 strikeout performance in Clemson’s Super Regional loss to Florida on Sunday, Gators’ head coach Kevin O’Sullivan had Tigers’ closer Austin Gordon checked for illegal substances.

It was a move head coach Erik Bakich voiced some displeasure with when meeting with the media on Wednesday.

“He licks his fingers, he touches the dirt, he touches his hat,” Bakich said. “Austin Gordon doesn’t use any sticky stuff, he doesn’t need any. He is nasty. That was dumb.”

Bakich and O’ Sullivan were both assistants on Jack Leggett’s staff at Clemson in 2002 and when asked if he was disappointed in the Florida head coach having Gordon checked, Bakich had a quick response.

“A little bit, yeah,” he said. “Whatever.”

Despite Clemson losing the game, Gordon had a big-time performance, throwing more than 80 pitches across five innings, with the 10 strikeouts.

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