Three weeks into the season and the biggest series in the state and possibly country happens this weekend.
The 8th ranked Clemson Baseball team face-offs against South Carolina in the Palmetto Series. Friday nights game is at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, moving to Fluor Field in Greenville on Saturday before closing out at Founders Park in Columbia on Sunday.
The two teams combine for 16 wins and only 1 loss in the early part of the season.
Clemson has won 7 of the last 10 series with the Gamecocks.
Here is your preview on Clemson’s rivalry weekend across three South Carolina towns against the Gamecocks of the University of South Carolina.
Clemson Briefly:
Clemson enters the weekend with 7 wins and 1 loss, with the lone loss coming to Ole Miss in the opening weekend in Texas.
The Tigers are hitting .312 as a team through 8 games (42nd nationally). They’re led in that category by Dominic Listi (.462). They have added 17 doubles and 6 home runs as a team.
On the mound, the Tigers pitching staff touts a 5.56 ERA (151st nationally). The staff has struck out 80 batters and walked 29 in the early part. Probably a bit too many “free 90s” than the coaching staff would like.
Opponents are hitting .230 against the Tigers.
Here is a look at the South Carolina Gamecocks through their first 9 games of the season:
South Carolina Gamecocks
Head Coach – Paul Maineri (1st Season @ UofSC; 39th overall)
2025 Record: 9-0
Wins: Sacred Heart (x3); Winthrop; Queens; Milwaukee (x3); Gardner-Webb
Losses: none
Note: Coach Maineri won a national championship while coaching LSU in 2007.
Here are the probable starting lineup for South Carolina and their 2025 stats:
Position Players:
| Name (#) | Year | Position | 2025 Stats |
| Nathan Hall (31) | Jr | CF | .433; 3 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI; 4 SBs |
| Henry Kaczmar (7) | Jr. | SS | .172; 3 RBI |
| Ethan Petry (20) | Jr. | 1B | .452; 3 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 10 RBI |
| Kennedy Jones (17) | Sr. | LF | .290; 2 2B, HR, 5 RBI |
| Talmadge LeCroy (5) | Sr. | C | .056; 3 RBI |
| Jase Woita (52) | Jr. | DH | .444; 3 HR, 8 RBI |
| Dalton Mashore (3) | Sr. | RF | .316; RBI |
| Nolan Nawrocki (8) | Soph. | 2B | .350; 2 2B, HR, 6 RBI |
| KJ Scobey (19) | Fr. | 3B | .269; HR, 5 RBI |
Offensively, the Gamecocks are led in the early season by Junior 1B Ethan Petry. Petry is as good a baseball player that Clemson will face this season. A defensive liability at times, he projects as a DH at the next level, but the guy can really hit. Currently hitting .452 with 2 long balls and 10 RBIs.
Clemson transfers Nathan Hall and Nolan Nawrocki have gotten off to hot starts in their new home, as both are on the top half of the team in nearly all statistical categories during the first three weeks of the season.
The Gamecocks are hitting .304 as a team (67th nationally). They have hit 16 doubles, a triple and 12 home runs as a team. They are running a lot more than they had in the past few seasons, currently at 18-20 in the stolen base department (32nd in the country). Former Tiger Nathan Hall leads the team with 4 of those.
Announced Pitchers for South Carolina:
| NAME (#) | Year | Hand | 2025 Stats |
| Matthew Becker (29) | Jr. | LHP | 2-0; 1.59 ERA, 11.1 IP, 17 K, 0 BB, OppBA: .105 |
| Jake McCoy (23) | Soph. | LHP | 1-0; 3.00 ERA, 9 IP, 17 K, 4 BB, OppBA: .067 |
| *** Dylan Eskew (16) | Sr. | RHP | 0-0; 2.57 ERA, 7 IP, 11 K, 4 BB, OppBA: .125 |
***Sunday starter is my best guess. It has been formally announced as TBA***
The early talk out of Columbia is that they are concerned about their pitching depth. However, the Gamecocks have started the season with clear top two guys in Matthew Becker and Jake McCoy who have impressive stats through two starts each.
The Gamecocks pitching staff owns a 2.25 staff ERA (11th nationally), have struck out 105 opponent hitters while walking 23. They have given up only 6 home runs as a staff through those 9 games.
Clemson will continue with the same weekend starters from the first two weekends; Aidan Knaak on Friday, Ethan Darden on Saturday and Justin LeGuernic on Sunday.
SUMMARY
Clemson bucked the trend this season by starting their year in a big time tournament in Arlington, Texas. The opponents were on the upper level of competition right off the top of the season.
South Carolina started the year playing some lower-level mid-major teams and took care of business.
This will be a step up in competition for both programs this weekend. Plus add to that, arguably, the biggest rivalry in college baseball and we have the makings of an unbelievable set of games this weekend.
Get out to DKS and get loud. Coach Bakich yearns to have the home yard be an extreme home field advantage. No better weekend to start that than Friday night.
