CLEMSON – If Clemson wants to get back to the College World Series and wants to win games against its archrival, then it needs to make unselfish plays like Cam Cannarella’s in Friday’s 5-3 victory over South Carolina at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
Cannarella helped the 13th-ranked Tigers win Game 1 of the three-game series by putting his team’s needs above his own.
Case in point, Clemson (8-1) had no one on in the top of the first inning when Cannarella stepped to the plate with two outs. On the first pitch, Clemson’s centerfielder noticed how the Gamecocks shifted its infield to the right side.
On Matthew Becker’s second pitch, knowing there was no third baseman, or any infielder for that matter, on the left side of the infield, Cannarella laid down a perfectly executed drag bunt down the third baseline.
“He could not roll it any better, so I thought that was awesome,” Clemson head coach Erik Bakich said.
Cannarella’s bunt single was just what the doctor ordered. Josh Paino walked to keep the inning going, and then Collin Priest laced a double down the rightfield line to score Cannarella and Paino for a 2-0 lead.
“That certainly got the scoring going because it started with two outs,” Bakich said. “It started a two-out rally. Cam finds his way on, and Priest knocks them both in. That inning does not happen, maybe, without that drag bunt.”
Cannarella’s drag bunt definitely got the offense going for the Tigers. A Dominic Listi RBI single and a drawn walk for Paino, with the bases loaded, extended Clemson’s lead to 4-0 through two innings.
“Cam is one of the top prospects in the country. They had a shift on him. That is a team play right there,” Bakich said. “He just wanted to get on base for his team and he executes a perfect drag bunt. I mean perfect.
“That is a drag punt, and Caden Grice did that a couple of years ago as well, where you do not expect it from your star player, but when they do it, it is so much valuable than when they do it with just a single.”
Cannarella finished the evening 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored. Priest also had a 2-for-4 night, while Luke Gaffney was 2-for-3.
Jarren Purify laid down a sacrifice bunt in the second inning and smashed a home run in the bottom of seventh inning to finish with a 1-for-2 night.
Clemson is looking to clinch the series today in Game 2 at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m.