CLEMSON — After playing the Bananas All-Star team last fall, the Clemson Baseball team came into Thursday night’s exhibition a little more prepared for what to expect.

There is no doubt that this year’s edition of the exhibition was a little more toned down. There was no home run derby pregame. There weren’t nearly as many grand entrances, such as Jay Dillard coming to the plate on a horse. There wasn’t even a weigh-in between the two head coaches just before first pitch, which is when we saw head coach Erik Bakich come out of his shirt last year.

While there was still a ton of entertainment and several trick plays, with most being pulled off by the Bananas, this year’s matchup focused more on the actual baseball. At least that is how Clemson approached it.

After losing last November, Bakich and his players came into this one not only looking to have a little fun but also wanting to come away victorious. And that they did, as the Tigers took each of the first four innings, while scoring the first seven runs of the contest. The Bananas All-Stars did make a furious comeback, but in the end, Clemson held on for a 4-3 win.

“We wanted to play a much more competitive game,” Bakich said after the win. “I think (last year) we were caught up in the excitement of just this atmosphere and, of course, trying to play their game with them. You can’t play their game with them. They are a masterclass of trick plays. They can do things on the field that take hours and hours and hours and hours. And they are tremendous athletes. Jake Skole was a first-rounder out of Georgia Tech. I think we were trying to keep up with their brand a little bit.”

Two of the newcomers to the Clemson roster made their presence felt, with transfer Nate Savoie hitting a long RBI double off the centerfield wall for the game’s first run. Later in the contest, transfer Ty Dalley launched a massive home run out to right, extending the Tigers’ lead. Dalley originally came to the plate and set his bat on fire, but the flame went out just before he hit the homer. Dalley also pulled off the only trick play for Clemson, catching a fly ball in right behind his back.

“We wanted to obviously entertain the fans and stuff, but our main goal obviously was to win,” Dalley said. “We focused on us, our team played a great game, and we got the W.”

Jarren Purify was with the Tigers last year, leaning on that experience to ensure his team did not come out on the losing end this time around. He led the game off with a single and scored the first run on Savoie’s double.

“Year two doing it, it was definitely a more serious game for us,” Purify said. “At the end of the day, we didn’t want to lose. We came out a little less timid than last year. We tried to put it on them early, and we did that.”

One objective for Clemson was getting off to a fast start, and that mission was firmly accomplished. So much so that even when the Bananas pulled off a rare triple play in the top of the ninth and rallied in their final at-bat, the Tigers were able to hold off the group of All-Stars and avenge last year’s defeat.

“We still wanted to be a full participant in Banana Ball, but also a little bit more fundamental and foundational in how we play and how we compete,” Bakich said. “Thought we swung the bats really well early. We put some zeros up when we needed to and played pretty good defense. Got a little bit dicey there in the ninth.”