Clemson pitcher Pat Krall knows nothing about the Tigers’ past with archrival South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. So when it was announced on Monday that the winner of the Columbia Regional will play the winner of the Clemson Regional in the Super Regional Round next week, Krall did not think much about it.

“I’m not familiar with it, but I’m sure if all the cards fall where they may, there might be some more history this year,” said the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania native.

Recent history has not been too kind to the Tigers (42-18) when it comes to playing South Carolina in the postseason. The Gamecocks have won the last six postseason meetings, including four victories in Omaha, two each in 2002 and 2010.

The Gamecocks also beat Clemson twice in the 2012 Columbia Regional, the last time they meet in the NCAA Tournament.

“We are not really focusing on that. We are focusing on these teams ahead of us,” Clemson catcher Chris Okey said. “We have to do our own thing in the regional right now. Wherever it takes us, we will go with it.

“We have Western Carolina on Friday night and we are focusing on them.”

Okey’s strategy is a good one to have. The last time Clemson had a possible postseason date with the Gamecocks it never happened because the Tigers forgot they had to play someone else before they could face South Carolina.

In the 2013 Columbia Regional, Liberty prevented the country’s greatest baseball rivalry from meeting in the postseason by beating the Tigers twice. The last time Clemson and Carolina were paired up to play in a possible Super Regional Showdown, the Tigers again could not hold up its end of the bargain as they fell flat on their face in the 2011 Clemson Regional Finals to UConn, losing back-to-back games, 7-6 and 14-1 in the championship round.

“I know we don’t want to think about a Super Regional. We are playing Western and we have played them before. They’re a good team and they got in the tournament,” Krall said. “Anything can happen in a tournament so for us we are just thinking about Friday and getting off to a good start and we will go from there.”

Clemson, the No. 7 national seed, will play Western Carolina, the No. 4 seed in the Clemson Regional, at 7 p.m. on Friday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The winner will play the winner of the No. 2 Oklahoma State vs. No. 3 Nebraska game, which will play at noon on Friday.

“Our mentality has been to control what we can control. We can control the game,” Krall said. “We will prepare for Friday and go from there and let the cards fall where they may. We just have to worry about what we can control and let the rest take care of itself.”

And if the cards fall right, Clemson and South Carolina will be making postseason history, again.

“I think that is cool. They are a great team, but we have to just look to this weekend and focus what we have to do on Friday,” designated hitter Mike Triller said.

Just for the record, Clemson does have some postseason success against the Gamecocks, especially in Clemson. The three times the Tigers faced South Carolina in Clemson, the Tigers won all three meetings, including a win in the 1980 Clemson Regional Finals that advanced the Tigers to the College World Series.

“It is a great rivalry,” Triller said. “I know how much we respect each other and we will look forward to it if we can get past this weekend.”

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