Spiers: 'Winning in Baseball is Tough

CLEMSON— The last name Spiers has been a part of an ever-growing legacy for the Clemson Tigers.

It began in 1958 when Bud Spiers helped lead the Clemson Tigers to the College World Series as he fielded .947 for the season, a record that stood for nearly three decades. The record was finally broken when Bill Spiers, Bud’s son, helped lead the Tigers to an NCAA regional with a .950 fielding percentage.

Both father and son played for legendary coach Bill Wilhelm, and Bud was Wilhelm’s first player to sign a professional contract. Bill was the last first-round draft pick of Wilhelm’s 36-year career. But he was not the last Spiers to play for Wilhelm.

That honor was reserved for Bud’s other son and Bill’s brother, Michael.

Michael lettered in baseball from 1988-91, and during his time with the Tigers he was a participant in the College World Series (1991) and a part of two ACC championships (1989, 1991). Michael was also named the MVP of the ACC Baseball Tournament in 1991.

Following his playing career, Michael joined the baseball program for two seasons as an assistant coach.

That legacy of Clemson student-athletes has continued to the present, as Bill’s son, Will, was the starting punter on Clemson’s 2018 national championship football team.

Now, with football season over, the Spiers everyone is anxious to see is Bud’s son, Carson, a relief pitcher for the Tiger baseball team.

“I feel like I'm extremely blessed to be able to carry on that tradition as a Spiers playing here. So I don't put any extra pressure on myself having that last name,” Spiers said. "It is nice to have family playing before me because a lot of guys know the Spiers name. When I walk to the ballpark, I feel like older people know who I am even if I don't know who they are.

“It's just awesome that they will be able to come up to me and say, 'Hey, I love watching you because I watched your grandfather play 30 years ago.' So, to me that's really special.”

Now a senior, Carson believes the work the Tiger baseball team put in during the offseason has prepared them for the spring and summer — when the games count.

‘'We felt like practice started in January, even back to the fall,” Spiers said. “So getting ready for spring practice ... to us is really nothing. We just get to scrimmage, have 20-hour work weeks and stuff like that, but our season started back in January.”

Two years ago, the NCAA allowed teams to participate in two fall exhibition games that did not count against the school’s 56-game schedule.

Those games, according to Spiers, were big in the development of some of the Tigers’ young arms.

"That was a big, that was a big upside for our freshmen to be able to go out and throw against different competition,” Spiers said. “(Head) Coach (Monte) Lee has us scrimmaging against each other every weekend, so they get to throw plenty of weekends throughout the fall. But having them face different competition was a big thing for this squad.”

Even coming off a series win over in-state rival South Carolina, a series in which they scored a season-high 17 runs (average of 5.6 runs), Spiers understands that winning a series against a team like the Gamecocks is special.

“Winning in baseball is tough," Spiers said. "We're in one of the toughest conferences in all of baseball and playing these tough teams makes it where you have to pretty much play perfect. If you make one mistake they're going to make you pay for it."