Tigers get a leg up

I'm still feeling a little under the weather, so I stayed home and watched Game 1 of the Clemson-South Carolina series on ESPN3 Friday night.

(As an aside, announcers Roy Philpott and Marty Clary and Clemson's production crew did their usual bang-up job.)

Here are my thoughts after Clemson's 11-4 victory, which broke a four-game losing streak to the Gamecocks:

The victory, and the manner in which it was achieved, should have the Tigers relaxed for Saturday. Clemson starter Matthew Crownover, who hadn't walked a batter in his first two starters, walked the first two USC batters. The Gamecocks later loaded the bases but came up empty.

Clemson immediately took advantage by scoring four runs against Wil Crowe.

Crowe had been moved from the Gamecocks' No. 2 starter to No. 1 spot because he had outperformed Jack Wynkoop over the first two weekends, but Crowe had it rough in the early going Friday.

Clemson added four runs in the third on back-to-back home runs by Chris Okey and Weston Wilson to make it 8-0.

USC pulled within 8-3 on Connor Bright's three-run homer, but missed on opportunities to make it closer. The Gamecocks got just one run out of a bases-loaded fifth inning, and did that only because of a Clemson error. Defensive miscues had frequently come back to bite the Tigers during their recent misfortunes in the rivalry, but the damage was minimal Friday.

Particularly damaging to the Gamecocks' cause was Kyle Martin's bases-loaded liner that hit Max Schrock for the third out of the sixth inning. If the ball gets through, it's likely a two-run single to make the score 8-6 and perhaps create some tension in the Clemson dugout.

But it didn't get through.

Crowe pitched well after the third and helped lessen the amount of work needed from the USC bullpen.

Wilson's second home run of the game salted things away in the seventh.

Failing to get hits in key situations  has been a recurring problem for Clemson in recent seasons, and that carried over into the season-opening series with West Virginia. That hasn't been the case recently; the Tigers have scored 10 or more runs in four of their last five games.

Still, coach Jack Leggett has some teaching moments to keep his team focused the rest of the series: The Tigers was unable to keep the Gamecocks from making the game interesting. There was a lapse of concentration by a Clemson batter on a popup in front of the plate. Had he run instead of watched, he probably would have been on when the ball fell untouched.

The bright spot for the Gamecocks was they got the tying run to the plate in a game they once trailed by eight runs. They'll lament not doing a better job when they had chances to turn the screws on the Tigers.

Also, USC's Elliott Caldwell continued to make a strong case for not being in a platoon situation at one of the outfield spots.

In spite of the lopsided final margin, it was a good opener to the series.

Round Two comes at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Fluor Field in Greenville. There will be video streaming at GreenvilleDrive.com

Bring it on.