Clemson Flashback: Seth Beer's Late Homerun Helps Sink Gamecocks

Facing a 3-2 deficit, as well as a 3-2 count in the top of the ninth, Clemson outfielder Seth Beer deposited a Josh Reagan breaking ball into the right field stands at Founders Park to tie the game, giving the Tigers a shot to win it in extra innings, and take the season series against South Carolina for the third straight season.

March 5, 2017.....

After splitting the first two games of the season series, Monte Lee and his Clemson baseball team made the short trip down the road to Founders Park in Columbia.

The Tigers were looking to take two out of three from the rival South Carolina Gamecocks for the third consecutive season.

Down 3-2 heading into the ninth, things were looking rather grim. South Carolina reliever Josh Reagan was then able to retire the first two hitters, bringing the Gamecocks within one out of winning the game and the series.

That brought Clemson outfielder Seth Beer to the plate, forcing South Carolina head coach Chad Holbrook to make a decision. Either walk Beer intentionally or take his chances and pitch to him. 

With the left-handed Reagan on the mound, Holbrook chose to take advantage of the "left on left" matchup, and Reagan quickly fell behind in the count 3-0, not wanting to give Beer anything to hit. 

Reagan then threw two straight breaking balls for strikes, running the count full. He came after Beer with a third straight breaking ball, however this time the pitch hung over the plate, and the All-American made him pay. 

“I remember facing (Reagan) Friday and he got me with that curveball that he had," Beer said. "I was kind of thinking about it throughout the whole at-bat. I got in a 3-0 count and he kept throwing them. Thankfully on the 3-2 count, he threw one in my wheelhouse that I felt like I could do some damage with.”

Heading into the series, Holbrook had said they would be cautious with Beer and pitch to him "delicately, if at all," but walking Beer in that situation would have brought the winning run to the plate, and that was something he did not want to do.

“I’m not walking the winning run left on left," Holbrook said afterwards. "If he hits a home run, he ties it, he doesn’t win it. He left the pitch up a little bit and a great player put a great swing on it.”

The Tigers would go onto win the game 5-3 in eleven innings, scoring the go-ahead run when in an ironic turn of events, Gamecocks reliever Tyler Haswell threw a wild pitch while trying to intentionally walk, none other than Beer. 

“Sometimes baseball can be cruel, sometimes it can be exhilarating," Holbrook said afterwards. "We were on the cruel end of it.”