Clemson vs. South Carolina baseball series: How to watch, TV channel, weather
It’s time for the 2025 Palmetto Series.
The Clemson and South Carolina baseball teams will renew one of the best rivalries in the country as they play three games in three days this weekend.
The Tigers and coach Erik Bakich are 7-1 this season and rank No. 13 nationally in the D1Baseball.com Top 25. South Carolina is unranked but has gotten out to a 9-0 start in former LSU coach Paul Mainieri’s debut season as the Gamecocks’ skipper.
Dating back to 2015, Clemson has won seven of the last 10 series against South Carolina. The teams have split their last four series meetings 2-2, though.
Here’s how to watch this year’s series, and what else to know.
2025 Clemson-South Carolina baseball series schedule
Game 1: Friday, 7 p.m. at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson (ACC Network Extra, broadcasters Mike Freeman and Pete Yanity)
Game 2: Saturday, 1:30 p.m. at Fluor Field in Greenville (SEC Network Plus, broadcasters Cade Crenshaw and Stuart Lake)
Game 3: Sunday, 5 p.m. at Founders Park in Columbia (SEC Network Plus, broadcasters Kip Bouknight, Grayson Greiner and Dave Weinstein)
Each school will also offer an in-house radio broadcast for each game. Clemson’s radio broadcast will be available on 105.5 FM locally (see affiliate list here), and South Carolina’s broadcast is available locally on 107.5 FM (see affiliate list here).
Starting pitchers for Clemson-USC
Clemson and USC announced their expected rotations Thursday
- Game 1: RHP Aidan Knaak (Clemson) vs. LHP Matthew Becker (USC)
- Game 2: LHP Ethan Darden (Clemson) vs. LHP Jake McCoy (USC)
- Game 3: LHP Justin LeGuernic Clemson) vs. TBA (USC)
Mainieri had previously indicated on Wednesday that RHP Dylan Eskew would start for South Carolina on Sunday if he wasn’t sore.
Weather update for Clemson-USC baseball series
It’s shaping up to be a beautiful weekend for baseball in South Carolina.
There’s no rain in the forecast for any of the three scheduled Clemson-USC games, according to Weather.com’s 10-day forecasts. The Saturday afternoon game in Greenville should be especially pleasant, with a high of 72 degrees.
How to watch games on streaming channels
Once again, the Clemson-South Carolina baseball series will not be available on a linear TV channel such as ESPN. The Palmetto Series is streaming only, meaning that fans will need either a cable or ESPN+ subscription in order to watch the games.
To access the games on ACC Network Extra (Friday) and SEC Network Plus (Saturday, Sunday), fans can log into the ESPN app with their cable or streaming TV account.
Those two streaming-only channels are available at no extra cost to people who subscribe to traditional services such as DISH, DIRECTV and Spectrum and already get ACC Network and SEC Network. They’re also available with select YouTube TV and Hulu Live TV packages.
You must have a cable or streaming package with ACCN/SECN access in order to get the streaming games and cannot use a standalone ESPN+ subscription.
Per ESPN: “You are not able to subscribe to ACCN/ACCNX directly or via ESPN+. Your pay TV provider needs to have an agreement in place to carry ACCN; be sure to sign up for their specific package that includes ACCN.”
Rivalry series history
The Clemson-South Carolina baseball series dates back to 1899. Heading into this weekend, the Tigers and Gamecocks have met 335 times, including twice in the 2024 season. Clemson leads the all-time series 188-145-2 (.564).
Clemson leads 104-46 in games played at Clemson (.693), South Carolina leads 86-70-2 in games played at USC (.550) and the Tigers have a slight 14-13 lead in 27 all-time neutral-site meetings. USC leads 8-7 in neutral-site games since 2010.
Last year’s series opener at USC’s Founders Park was postponed because of inclement weather before Clemson secured a series win with victories at Segra Park in Columbia (neutral site) and Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson. The third game of the 2024 series was ultimately canceled, giving the Tigers a 2-0 win.
Explaining 2025 neutral-site game
This year’s Clemson-USC neutral-site game is at Fluor Field in Greenville.
Clemson will be the designated road team for that game, meaning the Tigers will occupy the third-base visitors dugout and bat first. South Carolina is the designated home team, will occupy the first-base home dugout and gets to bat second.
Fluor Field is home to the Greenville Drive, a Boston Red Sox minor league affiliate, and features a replica of Fenway Park’s “Green Monster” in left field.
Clemson is 31-9 all time in games at Fluor Field (45 minutes from campus) and has won 15 of its last 18 games at the venue. USC is 6-5 against Clemson in Greenville.
This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 8:40 AM.
