South Carolina baseball aiming to get ‘rivalry back on track’ against Clemson – SECcountry.com

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Jacob Olson felt a difference when he walked into the South Carolina baseball locker room on Wednesday.

The first-year Gamecock knew the rivalry between South Carolina and Clemson was something fierce, but that different feeling let the Georgia native know just how much meaning it carries.

“You can just feel it in the air,” Olson said. “It’s just different. It’s something that I have never experienced before. I’m really looking forward to it.”

South Carolina (6-3) and Clemson (6-2) open their three-game rivalry series on Friday night at Clemson. Saturday’s game will take place at Fluor Field in Greenville and the series will conclude Sunday at Founders Park.

The Gamecocks have dropped the past two series against Clemson by a 2-1 margin. USC won last season on Friday night behind a dazzling outing from Clarke Schmidt, but lost Saturday and Sunday to fall short against their rivals. That’s on the minds of the junior-heavy Gamecocks as they have their sights on getting their first series win against their rivals before many head for the professional ranks.

“The fact that I have not won a series against Clemson is really digging at me,” closer Tyler Johnson said. “It’s big for me and I think it’s big for Schmidt and a bunch of older guys here. We want to get this rivalry back on track.”

Said Schmidt: “To be able to lose the past two years, I haven’t won a series here against them. That’s a big role in my mindset and I really want to go out there and get a win.”

Schmidt will be on the mound for the Gamecocks on Friday night at Clemson, while junior Wil Crowe will start Saturday in Greenville. Crowe downplayed his last start against Clemson — an 11-hit outing with eight earned runs allowed in a 2015 loss — as a thing of the past.

But none of the Gamecocks were downplaying what the rivalry means to them.

“Every pitch you’re biting your nails and you’re freaking out in the dugout,” Schmidt said. “It’s really fun. This is one of the most exciting weekends of the year. It’s like a postseason game. … There’s not much more you can look forward to as a high schooler coming to a school like this than playing in a rivalry this big.”

The importance and the intensity of the rivalry isn’t something coach Chad Holbrook feels is necessary to talk about with his team. Really, he hopes he never has to say anything to his players about being excited for games, but that holds even more truth when it comes to Clemson.

Moreover, Holbrook said he the rivalry between two storied programs is a big recruiting tool and he believes players go to both schools to be part of it.

“We are just going to do the best we can and try to go out there and have fun with it,” Holbrook said. “If you can’t have fun in this rivalry, it’s hard to have fun on the baseball field. That’s the attitude that our baseball team is going to have.”

Schmidt concurred, saying, “That’s what a kid loves — I’m a kid with testosterone and I want to go out there and have fun.”

But without winning the series, which South Carolina had done four times in a row before the recent two-year losing streak, it’s not the same.

“We want to have a little bragging rights, especially coming off last year,” Schmidt said. “We want to come out and make a statement early.”

That starts Friday night with Schmidt and a junior class that is seeking its first series win against Clemson, but everyone understands what it means at South Carolina.

“It’s my first time and I’m getting to know what it’s about really quick,” Olson said. “I love the atmosphere and I love what we’ve got going on.”