Countdown to First Pitch: No. 7 Clemson vs. No. 23 South Carolina
By: trey-mccurry March 2, 2018

Seventh-ranked Clemson faces No. 23 South Carolina this weekend in the team’s annual traveling rivalry series.

The weekend begins on Friday tonight (7 p.m.) at Founders Park in Columbia before moving to Fluor Field in Greenville on Saturday (3 p.m.) and wraps up at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson on Sunday (2 p.m.).

Clemson has won the last three series over the Gamecocks.

The Series

Meetings:                     315 (first met in 1899)

Series Record:              Clemson leads 176-137-2

Record at SC:               South Carolina leads 82-68-2 (SC leads 8-4 at Founders Park)

Record at neutral:       Series tied 10-10 (Series tied 4-4 in Greenville; SC leads 4-3 at Fluor Field)

Record at Clemson:      Clemson leads 98-45 (CU leads 51-28 at DKS)

Last Meeting(s):           Clemson won 2 of 3 games in 2017 (0-2 at CU; 8-7 at Fluor; 5-3 in 11 at SC)

vs. Lee:                          Lee trails 6-13 (4-2 at CU; 2-11 at CofC)

 

Worth Noting

  • Clemson is 17-11-1 all-time on March 2 with a 4-4-1 mark on the road.
  • The Tigers are 21-0 all-time on March 3 with a 1-0 mark at neutral sites.
  • Clemson is 19-9 all-time on March 4 with a 15-1 mark at home.
  • The Tigers are 402-373-7 all-time against current SEC programs (have faced every program but LSU and Missouri). Clemson is 168-222-5 on the road at SEC teams, 29-25 at neutral sites, and 205-126-2 at home.
  • Coach Lee has faced six SEC programs (Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, & Vanderbilt). Lee is 16-20 all-time against current SEC teams (9-4 at CU, 7-16 at CofC).

 

The Gamecocks

Head Coach:                Mark Kingston (1st season at SC)

2017 Record:               35-25 (13-17; 5th SEC East) – N/A – NR

Preseason:                   4th in SEC East (out of 7 teams)

Home Record:              6-3 (23-13 in 2017)

Neutral Record:           0-0 (3-4 in 2017)

Road Record:               0-0 (9-8 in 2017)

Last Week:                   Lost 6-4 at home to Furman on Tuesday after taking two of three home games from Charleston Southern (7-0, 14-2, 2-4) last weekend

 

2017 Batting Stats:      .277 (7.7 RPG) with 10 2B, 5 3B, 18 HR, 55 BB, 5 HBP, 71 K, 11-14 SB

2017 Pitching Stats:     2.56 ERA, .185 OBA (50 hits), 27 BB & 79 K in 81.0 innings

2017 Fielding Stats:     .979 (7 errors in 338 chances)

 

The Tigers

2017 Record:               42-21 (17-13; 3rd Atlantic) – Clemson Regional – 22 USA, 23 BA, 24 D1, 25 CB

2018 Preseason:           3rd in ACC Atlantic Division (7 teams)

Road Record:               0-0 (11-8 in 2017)

Neutral Record:           0-0 (2-2 in 2017)

Home Record:              3-0 (29-11 in 2017)

Last Week:                   Beat Winthrop 9-8 in 11 innings at home on Tuesday after sweeping three home games from No. 10 Dallas Baptist (12-1, 9-1, 3-2) last weekend

 

2018 Batting Stats:      .282 (7.4 RPG) with 14 2B, 12 HR, 49 BB, 11 HBP, 55 K, 4-7 SB

2018 Pitching Stats:     2.92 ERA, .207 OBA (56 hits), 23 BB & 84 K in 74.0 innings

2018 Fielding Stats:     .987 (4 errors in 298 chances)

 

Projected Starting Lineups

South Carolina

C        38 Hunter Taylor (SR/.259 BA with 2 HR, 8 RBI, & 3 R in 7 games in 2018)

1B      33 Chris Cullen (JR/.304 BA with 1 HR, 6 RBI, & 7 R in 7 games in 2018)

2B      14 Madison Stokes (SR/.538 BA with 3 2B, 3 HR, & 6 RBI in 4 games in 2018)

SS       11 LT Tolbert (JR/.469 BA with 1 3B, 2 HR, & 8 RBI in 9 games in 2018)

3B      20 Jonah Bride (SR/.219 BA with 1 3B, 1 HR, & 4 RBI in 9 games in 2018)

LF       8 Carlos Cortes (SO/.194 BA with 2 2B, 2 HR, & 8 RBI in 9 games in 2018)

CF      5 TJ Hopkins (JR/.324 BA with 3 2B, 2 RBI, & 7 R in 9 games in 2018)

RF      7 Jacob Olson (JR/.194 BA with 4 HR, 9 RBI, & 8 R in 9 games in 2018)

DH      2 Noah Campbell (FR/.200 BA with 2 3B, 1 HR, & 3 RBI in 9 games in 2018)

 

Clemson

C        10 Kyle Wilkie (SO/.148 BA with 1 2B, 2 RBI, & 3 R in 8 games in 2018)

1B      27 Chris Williams (SR/.387 BA with 4 2B, 3 HR, & 15 RBI in 8 games in 2018)

2B      4 Grayson Byrd (*JR/.240 BA with 3 RBI, 2 R, & 1 BB in 8 games in 2018)

SS       8 Logan Davidson (SO/.226 BA with 2 RBI, 6 R, & 6 BB in 8 games in 2018)

3B      25 Patrick Cromwell (SR/.375 BA with 1 2B, 1 HR, & 4 RBI in 8 games in 2018)

LF       13 Drew Wharton (SR/.308 BA with 1 2B, 4 HR, & 13 RBI in 8 games in 2018)

CF      31 Bryce Teodosio (FR/.261 BA with 2 2B, 1 HR, & 2 RBI in 8 games in 2018)

RF      28 Seth Beer (JR/.259 BA with 2 2B, 2 HR, & 4 RBI in 8 games in 2018)

DH      12 Robert Jolly (SR/.440 BA with 3 2B, 7 RBI, & 6 R in 8 games in 2018)

 

Projected Starting Pitchers

Game One

SO LHP 32 Jacob Hennessy (1-0/2 app/2 GS/2.45 ERA (11.0 IP)/.214 OBA (9 hits)/2 BB/14 K)

JR RHP 15 Adam Hill (1-1/2 app/2 GS/5.73 ERA (11.0 IP)/.132 OBA (5 hits)/3 BB/20 K)

 

Game Two

SO RHP 49 Cody Morris (2-0/2 app/2 GS/3.38 ERA (10.2 IP)/.167 OBA (6 hits)/3 BB/9 K)

JR RHP 19 Brooks Crawford (1-0/2 app/2 GS/2.00 ERA (9.0 IP)/.235 OBA (8 hits)/0 BB/9 K)

 

Game Three

South Carolina has not announced a starter for Game Three

*SO LHP 24 Jake Higginbotham (2-0/2 app/2 GS/0.73 ERA (12.1 IP)/.167 OBA (7 hits)/0 BB/10 K)

 

Tiger Career Stats vs. South Carolina

Player                              AVG    G-S     AB      R        H        RBI     BB      K          HR      Other

Seth Beer                .333   6-6     15      4        5        4        8        2        3

Logan Davidson       .231   3-3     13      3        3        0        2        4        0          2-2 SB

Chris Williams         .154   5-3     13      0        2        1        0        4        0          2B, 2 HBP

Robert Jolly            .125   6-4     16      2        2        0        2        3        0          2B, 1-1 SB

Patrick Cromwell    .100   3-3     10      1        1        1        1        4        1

Grayson Byrd          .000   5-3     8        0        0        1        2        3        0          HBP, SF

Adam Renwick        .000   4-3     8        1        0        0        1        2        0          HBP, SH

Jordan Green          .000   2-0     3        0        0        0        0        1        0

Drew Wharton         N/A    2-0     0        0        0        0        0        0        0

 

Player                              ERA    G-S     W-L    IP       H        R        ER      BB          SO      OBA

Alex Schnell ^                   0.00   2-0     1-0     5.2     2        0        0        1          1        .118

Brooks Crawford     0.00   3-0     0-0     4.1     4        0        0        1        3          .250

Jacob Hennessy      0.00   3-0     0-0     1.1     1        0        0        1        0          .200

Ryan Miller             0.00   1-0     0-0     0.0     1        0        0        0        0          1.000

Ryley Gilliam                    2.70   2-0     1-0     3.1     2        2        1        4          4        .200

^ – Has one save.

* Grayson Byrd played at LSU in 2015.