Feeling super: Clemson baseball beats Coastal to win regional, advance in NCAAs
Fans roared, emotions soared and players stormed the field as Clemson’s Doug Kingsmore Stadium hosted a celebration 14 years in the making Sunday night.
After an extended run of struggles and early exits at the NCAA’s regional round, the Tigers baseball team has officially made it through the tournament’s opening weekend — and earned another run of postseason baseball in its home ballpark.
Top-seeded Clemson got an early run of offense and survived a late push from No. 3 seed Coastal Carolina to score a 12-5 win in Sunday’s regional championship and advance to the NCAA’s super regional round for the first time since 2010.
After the final out, Tigers players and staffers streamed into right field to celebrate with raucous fans in the Cheap Seats and Cajun Café area, continuing a tradition of other Tigers teams after they advanced out of regionals.
“It was amazing to be part of something like this,” shortstop and regional MVP Jacob Hinderleider said. “To be able to go into the outfield and see the fans out there after winning tonight was something you can’t really describe.”
“Probably one of the coolest things, if not the coolest thing, I’ve ever done on a baseball field,” third baseman Blake Wright added.
Trailing 6-2, Coastal Carolina hit back-to-back home runs in the top of eighth inning to narrow the score to 6-5 before the Tigers added six runs in bottom of the eighth and pitcher Austin Gordon closed out a third straight game for the Tigers.
As the No. 6 overall seed in the bracket, the Tigers automatically earn the right to host a best-of-three super regional running either Friday through Sunday, or Saturday through Monday, next weekend at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
Clemson will face the winner of the Stillwater Regional, where No. 11 overall seed Oklahoma State and Florida are set to play a winner-take-all game on Monday afternoon (3 p.m., ESPNU).
Regardless of opponent, the Tigers will be juiced up after making their first super regional under second-year coach Erik Bakich and first in 14 years, dating back to their last College World Series trip in 2010.
Since that last appearance, Clemson had failed to advance out of 10 straight regionals and five straight home regionals — including in 2023, when Bakich’s first Clemson team earned the No. 4 overall seed but was eliminated in three games.
It was an unsightly streak. But now it’s over.
“Very proud of this group,” Bakich said. “They’ve earned this. They’ve certainly earned this. And there’s more to play for, which is even better.”
Game recap
Clemson put up two quick runs in the bottom of the first inning — a sloppy frame for Coastal featuring a walk, a hit by pitch and an error in the outfield — and extended that lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning.
By that point, the Tigers offense had already scored more runs in half a game than they did in full nine-inning outings against High Point on Friday and Coastal Carolina on Saturday.
Third baseman Blake Wright, catcher Jimmy Obertop, right fielder Alden Mathes and shortstop Hinderleider all drove in runs via RBI early, and Obertop also smashed the Tigers’ first home run of the regional to center field in the bottom of the third (a concerning drought for a team that hit 101 in the regular season).
The Chanticleers, who beat High Point earlier Sunday to advance to the regional championship, were playing their third game in roughly 24 hours and it showed. Short on pitching and lacking the crisp defense it played with Saturday against Clemson, the Chants looked like a different team early on.
Coastal Carolina’s only relief came through an RBI single from Zack Beach in the top of the second inning. Otherwise, the Chants couldn’t capitalize against Clemson starting pitcher Ethan Darden (4.2 innings, two strikeouts, nine ground-outs) and burned through four pitchers early themselves.
Things got a little more tense later in the game, as Coastal cut its deficit to 6-2 in the top of the fifth inning and Clemson struggled to execute with runners in scoring position. Despite having the bases loaded and two outs to end two straight innings, the Tigers netted just one run from those chances.
It came back to bite them after Coastal Carolina smashed back-to-back home runs against reliever Reed Garris to take the game from 6-2 to 6-5 in the top of the eighth.
But Cannarella and company eliminated those nerves quickly. Cannarella smashed a home run to center field to give Clemson a two-run lead (7-5), and the Tigers scored six more, including four in an entertaining run of back-to-back RBI doubles.
The loss ended the career of Coastal Carolina coach Gary Gilmore, who led the Chants for 28 seasons and announced he’d retire after this year.
And it sent Clemson off to a super regional, where the Tigers need two wins to get back to the destination they’ve coveted all year: Omaha, Nebraska.
Two more wins, and they’re off to the College World Series.
“As fun as that was celebrating a regional championship, this story is still being written on Team 127,” Bakich said. “There’s more work to be done.”
NCAA super regional schedule
Who: Clemson vs. Oklahoma State or Florida
When: TBD; best-of-three series begins Friday or Saturday
Where: Doug Kingsmore Stadium
TV: TBD
Streaming: ESPN+
This story was originally published June 2, 2024 at 9:31 PM.
