Commentary: Clemson-USC baseball rivalry still great, but national appeal has faded
When South Carolina and Clemson renew their baseball rivalry Friday, something will be missing: a national ranking.
That hasn’t happened since the two programs moved to a three-game series format in 2010.
“I think when you look at the series overall, this is still one that we look at and go, ‘Hey, this is a pretty big deal.’ But clearly when you have two teams that aren’t in the top 10 and things like that, it loses a little bit of luster on the national level,” said Kendall Rogers, who is the co-managing editor of D1Baseball. “Is it still important? Yes. But the two teams are both unranked right now, so from a national level it doesn’t mean as much.
“That’s just kind of the reality right now.”
During most of the 2000s and early 2010s, Clemson and South Carolina were two of the best and most consistent programs in college baseball. That’s no longer the case.
When these programs were regularly making trips to Omaha, the series winner had the inside track at a national seed in the postseason. Now the rivalry is for bragging rights and a series victory that may or may not boost an NCAA tournament résumé at the end of the year.
Their records indicate solid starts to 2020. South Carolina (6-2) lost two of three games against Northwestern last weekend, while Clemson (7-1) is coming off of a 5-3 loss to ETSU on Tuesday.
To start the last decade, Clemson and South Carolina were meeting regularly in the postseason in addition to the annual rivalry series. The teams played in the NCAA tournament in 2010 and 2012. They could’ve faced off in 2011 and 2013 in the postseason, but it didn’t come to pass: Once they were bracketed to meet in a super regional before the Tigers were eliminated; another year they were in the same regional but never met.
The Tigers and Gamecocks, however, haven’t been close to meeting in the NCAA tournament in recent years. That’s in part because one program (USC) is struggling to reach the postseason and the other (Clemson) can’t seem to win when it gets there.
Clemson has reached the NCAAs each of the past 11 years but hasn’t advanced out of a regional since 2010. The Gamecocks have missed the postseason three of the past five years — 2015 and 2017 under Chad Holbrook, and again in 2019 under Mark Kingston. South Carolina was in the NCAA tournament every year from 2000 to 2014.
Rogers has covered college baseball for more than 15 seasons and has attended the South Carolina-Clemson rivalry three separate years. To him it’s the best rivalry in the sport.
“I covered it a couple of years ago when the neutral site game was at the ballpark in Greenville, and just the overall atmosphere at all three venues was as good or better than anything I’ve ever seen. Of course Ole Miss-Mississippi State is still pretty intense, but personally I preferred South Carolina-Clemson,” Rogers said. “The weekend I was there it was cold. The ballparks were still packed. The energy in the crowd and the energy in the field. ... I think it’s the best rivalry in college baseball.”
Although the energy and intensity will be there this weekend, the importance nationally won’t.
Tigers coach Monte Lee was first around the rivalry as an assistant at South Carolina from 2003-08 and has been the head coach at Clemson since 2016.
To him, the rivalry means as much as ever.
“Do you think that the fact that both teams are unranked it’s going to change the way the two teams compete in the series? I mean, really? Do you really think that being ranked or not being ranked is going to change how both teams approach this series at all? Absolutely not,” Lee said. “Both teams are going to be ready to go regardless if they’re ranked or not. They know what the rivalry is all about. They know what the series is all about.”
Although that’s the case, the importance of the rivalry series just doesn’t feel the same. And, hopefully, both programs can fix that soon.
“They’re two brand names. They’re two historic names. That always makes the sport better,” Rogers said. “I would say I’m cautiously optimistic about both of these teams. Do I think either team is an Omaha team this year? I think I’d be pleasantly surprised. But, hey, that’s why you play the games. A lot can happen between now and mid-June.”
This story was originally published February 27, 2020 at 6:45 PM.
