Column: Palmetto rivalry is the best in college baseball

College football has Alabama-Auburn and college basketball has North Carolina-Duke. But when it comes to college baseball, which rivalry is the cream of the crop?

Deep South rivals Ole Miss and Mississippi State could make a claim as baseball’s premier rivalry, as the Rebels and Bulldogs have done battle over four hundred times on the diamond. If history doesn’t define a rivalry, then perhaps success does. Florida State and Miami are familiar with the concept, totaling over 20 College World Series appearances apiece.

However, when it comes down to pure competition, South Carolina-Clemson takes the prize. Everything between the Gamecocks and Tigers is heated, but the baseball programs’ animosity towards each other is something the state can be proud of.

The Palmetto rivalry doesn’t come without a history, and the two combined for eight College World Series appearances in the 1970s and 1980s.

However, each program dipped in the early 1990s, and changes were due at the top. By 1997, both schools had rising coaching stars in Ray Tanner and Jack Leggett. As we look back, it’s apparent than the duo became coaching legends while dumping gasoline onto an already hot Carolina-Clemson fire.

The Palmetto State sits atop college baseball’s rivalry pedestal, and the game isn’t just played in early March. The two have met six times in the tournament since 2002.

With that being said, the clash is high stakes, and there’s likely a future big-leaguer on the field when the two get two together. Baseball legends will be created, and another chapter will get added to the storybook.

Not many fans of either school will forget 2010. Clemson manhandled South Carolina in the three-game series in March, capping off the laughter with a 19-6 victory on Sunday afternoon in Columbia.

The Gamecocks and Tigers would meet again that season on baseball’s biggest stage in June’s College World Series, and the winner would advance to the national championship.

South Carolina earned revenge against all odds, as Christian Walker and Adrian Morales squeaked out two-out RBI singles late in the game to break the 2-2 tie. The rivalry had seen it’s finest hour in front of 20,000 fans and a national television audience.

High stakes aren’t the only thing that makes this series great.

Since the release of the series new regular season format in 2010, the rivalry has become more than just a game. It’s become an event.

Each season, the regular season tournament has worked like this: Friday and Sunday games rotate between Carolina and Clemson’s campuses, while Saturday’s game is normally hosted at Fluor Field in Greenville.

The baseball carnival appears all over the state for everyone to see. Fans are passionate, as both the Gamecocks and Tigers are top ten in national attendance. No love is lost between players, and no love is lost between their fan bases.

D1Baseball's Aaron Fitt, formerly of Baseball America, described the Clemson-South Carolina series as “Far and away the most compelling rivalry baseball has to offer."

Tanner and Leggett made this rivalry baseball’s best during their heyday, and now Gamecocks coach Chad Holbrook and Tigers coach Monte Lee are responsible for keeping the legacy alive.