Eyster Times Two: Walkoff Lifts Baseball Past Clemson

COLUMBIA – For the second straight game, an Andrew Eyster base hit walked off in-state rival Clemson. This time, it was a single to right that brought in Brady Allen in the bottom of the ninth of an 8-7 win over the Tigers Sunday afternoon (Feb. 28) at Founders Park.
 
Allen led off the ninth with a walk. He went to second on a Clarke walk. With two away, Eyster found the gap in right for a walk-off single that clinched the season series over the Tigers.
 
In a back-and-forth affair, Clemson put up a run in the first, but the Gamecocks answered in the third on Wes Clarke’s seventh home run of the year, a shot to center.
 
Clemson scored a pair in the fifth on Jonathan French’s two-run double to right. Carolina answered with four in the fifth, highlighted by Clarke’s three-run home run, his second of the game and eighth of the year. In the seventh, the Tigers scored four in the frame, two off the bat of Regan Reid. Carolina tied the game in the seventh on RBI hits from Mendham and Eyster.
 
Clarke went 3-for-4 with three runs and four RBI in the win. Braylen Wimmer and Eyster had three hits apiece. The win went to Will Sanders, his second in as many days, retiring the last two Tigers in the ninth. Brannon Jordan struck out eight and allowed three hits and two runs with four walks in a four-inning start.
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• Carolina clinches the series with Clemson with the third game taking place Tuesday, May 11 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
• Will Sanders has now pitched 5.1 innings for the Gamecocks, allowing just two hits with six strikeouts and a .118 opponent’s batting average.
• Carolina has now outhit its opponent in all six games.
• Carolina clinches the Clemson series for the second time in three years.
• Wes Clarke ends the week hitting .636 with eight home runs, 17 RBI and a 1.818 slugging percentage.

UP NEXT
Carolina travels to Rock Hill to visit Winthrop Tuesday night (March 2) at 6 p.m. at Winthrop Ballpark.