USC to face Clemson after controversial series last season
South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner said that “chippy” is a word that’s been used a lot to describe the USC and Clemson baseball series.
Things became especially heated last season when Clemson coach Jack Leggett had an umpire check Jackie Bradley Jr.’s bat for tampering, specifically bat-warming (which is believed to increase bat performance), after Bradley hit a home run off Clemson ace Kevin Brady. Tanner retaliated by saying that he was offended and that he runs an honest program.
Though the tension has fizzled out, Tanner is well-aware of the emotions that can arise in what he, and many others, consider to be one of the best rivalries in college baseball. With a team that is filled with new faces that are unfamiliar to the rivalry, it’s especially important for emotions to be managed through the series.
“Baseball is unlike a lot of other sports,” Tanner said. “You have to be careful with your emotions in our sport. You can’t be too high and you certainly can’t be too low. It’s a game of failure and in the moment and you have to stay level to play. You just really have to try and maintain perspective.”
Though some of the newcomers to the team have yet to play in the rivalry, almost all of them are familiar with it from hearing stories from the veterans. Freshman Grayson Greiner, a Columbia native, grew up around the rivalry, as his dad played basketball for South Carolina. Though he said his dad hasn’t passed along any wisdom, Greiner has heard plenty about keeping a level-head through the series, which will be played in Charleston on Friday, Columbia on Saturday and Clemson on Sunday.
“Last year, it got pretty heated, I heard,” Greiner said. “You’ve got to try and put those things behind you. It’s baseball between the white lines and you can’t let everything outside get in your head. You’ve just got to try to play well.”
Junior Evan Marzilli recalls his first Clemson-South Carolina series from a different perspective. Coming into it from Cranston, R.I., Marzilli didn’t play much in his inaugural rivalry series, but it left a lasting impression on him.
“I knew it was going to be big, but I didn’t think it was this big,” Marzilli said. “I definitely think this is the best college baseball rivalry in the country. I didn’t realize it as much until I got down here.”
Marzilli hasn’t said much to his newer teammates about the weekend series, as “it kind of goes without saying that it’s important to everyone.” USC ace pitcher Michael Roth said that the rivalry is one of the reasons that people come to South Carolina. Roth knows firsthand about the intensity of the Clemson series after he made his storied rise to stardom in pitching a complete game three-hitter against the Tigers in the College World Series in 2010.
“That’s kind of one of the first thing fans say to me — something about beating Clemson,” Roth said. “Or something about the game I pitched against Clemson, which has kind of propelled me to where I am today.”
Because of the emotions that can arise, Tanner said he will likely put as old a team as he can on the field, like junior-college transfer Chase Vergason at second base, senior Adam Matthews in the outfield, and junior Sean Sullivan at designated hitter, though the younger players may got an opportunity depending on how the series goes. Tanner said that Vergason has been playing better at second base in practice, though the position is still essentially a three-man race between Vergason and freshmen Connor Bright and TJ Costen.
“I don’t really know until I come down and see the lineup is on the board,” Costen said. “It’s just about going out there and playing. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Just as Costen has accepted the tentative situation at second base, Tanner has accepted the nature of the rivalry. Though he said things happened on both ends of the rivalry last season that were “uncharacteristic,” he just wants to return to playing baseball and making it about that. But Tanner did clarify the equipment that the team will use, and what they won’t use.
“We don’t own any bat warmers, although I understand they are for sale,” Tanner said.