Clemson Baseball Sweeps In-State Rival South Carolina With Dominant Sunday Win

Clemson baseball continues to roll, sweeping their in-state rivals over the weekend.

Mar 1, 2025; Greenville, South Carolina, USA; Clemson Tigers pitcher Ethan Darden (39) is congratulated after retiring the South Carolina Gamecocks during the bottom of the sixth inning at Fluor Field | Ken Ruinard/USA Today Network via Imagn Images

There's a lot of confidence surrounding this Clemson Tigers baseball team.

Since Erik Bakich left Michigan to take the head coaching job with Clemson ahead of the 2023 season, they have taken major steps forward as a program, winning 44 games in back-to-back years and reaching the Super Regional round of the Men's College World Series in 2024 after getting to the regional for the first time in two seasons in 2023.

Clemson was seen as a team who could make some noise this year, and they haven't disappointed.

Entering their massive weekend series against their in-state rival South Carolina, the Tigers held a 7-1 record with the lone loss coming at the hands of Ole Miss in the third game of the season at the Shriners Children's College Showdown on Feb. 16.

Clemson is coming out of this weekend 10-1.

The Tigers swept the Gamecocks with a massive late-inning explosion in the top of the ninth inning on Sunday, winning the finale on the road, 8-2.

Clemson outscored South Carolina, 18-6, over the weekend.

The first two games of the series were fairly close, with Clemson winning the first contest at home 5-3 before the venue changed to a neutral site in Greenville on Saturday for the second game of this series in a contest they won 5-1.

One of the great signs that came of this showdown was the different ways the Tigers won games.

In the first, Clemson got out to an early lead, jumping on South Carolina by scoring four runs in the first two innings and holding onto the victory with strong pitching.

They followed that up with a dominant showing from their pitching staff and clutch hitting in Game 2, with starter Ethan Darden throwing seven scoreless innings where he gave up just three hits in the best outing of his career. He got the win because Cam Cannarella had an RBI double in the fifth inning which broke the game open and allowed the Tigers to get a lead and win the game.

And in the final game, Clemson exploded late, scoring three in the top of the eighth inning to take a 4-0 lead, and then putting up four more in the top of the ninth after South Carolina scored their lone two runs of the game in the bottom of the eighth frame.

It was a great weekend for the Tigers, making a statement by dominating their in-state rivals.

They'll return to the diamond on March 4 against USC Upstate with first pitch set for 6 p.m.