USC loses 6-5 on walk-off hit
CLEMSON– South Carolina coach Ray Tanner believes in perspective in baseball, and after the Gamecocks suffered their first loss of the season on a walk-off hit to archrival Clemson, Tanner’s perspective was different than that of some of his players.
“We didn’t think we were going to run the table,” Tanner said. “We were in position today and maybe we didn’t deserve to be. They out-pitched us and they out-hit us. We played hard and we fought, but they were a little bit better today. In the end, they came up big and were able to win the game.”
The Gamecocks were unable to get the series sweep of Clemson, losing 6-5 in the ninth, after a 3-2 victory in Game 1 and a 9-6 one in Game 2. Though USC came out on top of the first two close matchups, the momentum swung in the Tigers's favor on Sunday, as they battled back from early deficits.
USC had a 5-3 lead in the eighth before pitcher Forrest Koumas walked Clemson third baseman Richie Shaffer, who hit .667 in the series. With Shaffer on and no outs, catcher Phil Pohl homered in left center field to tie the game at five runs apiece.
Koumas would get out of the inning, but the Gamecocks wouldn’t get any runs across in the next inning, despite having first baseman Christian Walker and centerfielder Evan Marzilli on first and second, respectively. With the ninth hitter, first baseman Jon McGibbon, leading off for Clemson, Koumas would have to retire the first three Tiger hitters to avoid Shaffer, who won the Bob Bradley Award for Clemson’s Most Valuable Player.
McGibbon singled to shallow center to get on base to start the inning. After Thomas Brittle bunted to move McGibbon to second, Clemson coach Jack Leggett had some words with his second baseman, Steve Wilkerson, before his at-bat.
“We just talked and I just put my arm on his shoulder and said, ‘Relax, go do what Phil (Pohl) did earlier – put the earlier at-bats behind you and get in there with the confidence you have and things are going to come around to you and set you up,’” Leggett said. “Everything worked out good. He came in and got a huge hit for us. There was a nice bunt to get McGibbon over. They weren’t going to walk [Wilkerson] to get to Shaffer, so it was going to come down to [Wilkerson] and if he didn’t get it done, then I’m pretty sure they would’ve walked Shaffer to try to get to Phil.”
Once Wilkerson’s ball was in the air, the entire Clemson dugout knew the game was over, as the Tigers raced to home to greet McGibbon. While the win was sweet for Clemson, the loss stung for South Carolina, but the Gamecocks left with new insight on the type of team they are through the first 10 games of the season.
“I think we kind of know where we stand,” said senior right fielder Adam Matthews. “We’ve got to get better offensively, defensively, and all around. This is something we can learn from, especially the new guys playing in front of this crowd and this pressure. This is something they haven’t faced and won’t face too often, but if you can be successful in this environment then you can be successful at any time of the year. It’s a learning experience all around and it kind of shows where we’re at.”
Matthews was awarded the Tom Price Award for the Most Valuable Player of the series for South Carolina, after he had a .400 batting average with four RBIs. Though Matthews was the MVP of the series, freshman Grayson Greiner was the player of the game after his two homers accounted for four of USC’s five runs.
Greiner didn’t play in Game 2 after he had three strikeouts against Clemson in the first game.
“I just took a different approach,” Greiner said. “I was waiting for the pitcher to come to me instead of attacking the pitcher on Friday. They were getting ahead, getting two strikes and putting me away fairly easily. I came out here aggressive today, trying to have a different mindset.”
Greiner said that when he looks back on the series, winning two of three will be rewarding, but “right now, it’s tough.” For Tanner, the weekend taught him more about his team in that “it’s a work in progress.” He didn’t get the veteran production he wanted from some of his veterans, but thought the series matured the younger ones.
With the first loss in the books, that much was clear as the freshman catcher and the coach had the same perspective.
“It’s good to play close games,” Greiner said. “When you get in the SEC and into the postseason, you’re going to have a lot of one-run games. Sometimes, it doesn’t work out for you and today it didn’t work out for us. I think we’ll be better for it.”