Baseball America | Blog | Baseball America College Blog | Tuesday College Roundup: Tanner Lashes Out At Clemson

Just when you thought the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry couldn't get more emotional, tensions ratcheted up to a fever pitch this weekend. South Carolina took offense when Clemson coach Jack Leggett questioned Jackie Bradley's bat after a home run Sunday, and the Gamecocks bristled more when Clemson's Will Lamb called South Carolina lefthander Tyler Webb "soft" after the game.

Due to Saturday's rain postponement, the Gamecocks had a day to stew before the finale was played Tuesday in Greenville. Starters David Haselden (6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K) of Clemson and Adam Westmoreland (5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER) both pitched well in no-decisions, but the Gamecocks surged ahead on Jake Williams' pinch-hit three-run homer in the seventh. Clemson battled back with three runs in the ninth, but Gamecocks closer Matt Price struck out pinch-hitter Jon McGibbon with the tying run at third base to close out a 5-4 win. The Gamecocks have now won 14 of their last 20 against Clemson, but Tuesday's victory was among the most emotional. The Anderson (S.C.) Independent Mail provides a great overview of the entire controversy; here are a few highlights from Tanner's postgame press conference:

"The whole thing was a bunch shenanigans,” Tanner said. “I don’t think that’s what this rivalry should be about. It’s two very good baseball teams at the collegiate level playing against each other. That’s where it should start and that’s where it should end. That’s the way I feel."

"(Leggett) called the bat out. I guess when (Clemson’s Richie) Shaffer hit one 600 feet (Tuesday) I should’ve gone out there. I didn’t appreciate it, I’m offended by it. I don’t cheat. I don’t allow my players to cheat. I haven’t done anything wrong. I felt like we were called out a little bit.”

“I don’t appreciate what Will Lamb said about one of my pitchers. He’s entitled to say whatever he wants to say. I don’t appreciate it. My players didn’t like it.”

“Our guys are not very happy they got called out. I don’t think that’s part of the game and we tried to come in here and play aggressive and play with emotion. It’s not something we want to do all the time but I’m proud of our players.”

“I don’t think it’s what it was, there’s no question about it,” Tanner said about his relationship with Leggett. “I’m not happy with the situation and maybe nobody cares. That’s fine, but I just don’t think what happened was appropriate. I don’t think it’s what this rivalry is about.”

Here are some other highlights from Tuesday's action:

• No. 1 Florida lost its second straight midweek game, 7-0 against Georgia Southern. Chris Beck, Josh Adams and Matt Murray held the Gators to just three hits while striking out 11, and Florida's defense committed four errors. The loss snapped Florida's school-record 24-game home winning streak.

• Oregon's offensive woes continued in a 4-1 loss to rival Oregon State. Tony Bryant and Matt Boyd limited the Ducks to three hits over 4.2 shutout innings of relief to nail down the victory. OSU improved to 10-3, while Oregon dropped to 5-7.

• Cole Green rebounded from a rough Saturday outing with four innings of one-hit ball against Texas-San Antonio, striking out nine without issuing a walk. The Longhorns won 8-5 on Tant Shepherd's walk-off three-run homer in the 11th.

• Sam Houston State improved to 11-2 with a 7-0 win against Rice, as Cody Dickson and Justin Jackson combined on a five-hitter.

• Purdue also continued its hot start, toppling Louisville 6-4 behind 8.2 strong innings from Joe Haase. The Boilermakers improved to 9-2.

• UC Irvine beat No. 19 Connecticut, 5-4. After UConn tied the game in the top of the eighth, Irvine's Drew Hillman hit a towering double off the left-field wall in the bottom of the frame and scored the winning run on Sean Madigan's RBI double.

• California's bats woke up after a rough weekend in San Diego, erupting for 21 hits in a 20-5 win over Santa Clara. Tony Renda led the onslaught, going 5-for-5 with a double, a homer, three runs and six RBIs for Cal.

• Kennesaw State catcher Ronnie Freeman extended the nation's longest hitting streak to 41 games, but Georgia Tech beat the Owls 7-4. Luke Bard threw four shutout, one-hit innings for the save.

• Fresno State beat Cal State Bakersfield, 9-2, to stop the Roadrunners' winning streak at 10 games. Last year's national home run leader, Jordan Ribera, hit his first long ball of the year for the 9-1 Bulldogs.

• MIami needed 11 innings to beat Illinois State, 5-4, to snap its four-game losing streak in coach Jim Morris' return to the dugout. Morris had missed the previous six games after having surgery to remove his gall bladder, and a subsequent infection.

• Georgia earned a big win against Mercer, 8-6, behind four hits from JOnathan Hester. The Bulldogs improved to 4-8. "Tonight was a big win for the team because we wanted to come through for J.T. (Johnathan Taylor)," Georgia coach David Perno said, referencing the Bulldogs outfielder who suffered a serious neck injury this weekend. Taylor had neck surgery Monday and will be moved to Atlanta's Shepherd Center later this week for rehab. You can leave messages for Taylor's family here.

Here's a better link for the Clemson/South Carolina story. The one you used is broken Aaron.
<a href="http://www.orangeandwhite.com/....." target=new>Link</a>

Posted by Richard | March 9, 2011 at 9:43 am | Shortcut

Aaron, do you know anyone with a database that would allow you to query stats on pinch-hitters on a team-by-team basis over the last few years? Ray Tanner has to be the about the best in the business here. I can't count the number of times we've had pinch hitters go yard in the last year or so. Our pinch hitters have got to be slugging over 1.000 in the last year. Is there a way to rank teams (and by extension, coaches) on this metric?

Posted by Will | March 9, 2011 at 10:25 am | Shortcut

Aaron: As a Clemson loyalist the bat warming discussion is to be expected. Leggett, like other coaches, had a responsibility to ask the question. Could it have been construed as a bush gamesmanship move? Perhaps. But I see nothing wrong with a coach standing up for his players. Though, more importantly, the question that needs to be asked (and not sure of the answer) is whether the NCAA allows teams to warm their bats. Iif so, argument over. Let's move on. If not, than coaches like Leggett are going to try and stay one step ahead of the other coach. Let's give USC some credit. They have a hell of a lot of talent on that squad. For us Clemson folks, we need to look forward to the UVA series this weekend. If they kids don't put the USC series behind them, UVA is going to come down to Clemson and smoke us. As for USC, don't think that Kevin O'Sullivan and the other SEC coaches aren't watching and will be dutifully noting any super-hot shots off of USC's bats. Thanks.

Posted by John | March 9, 2011 at 10:29 am | Shortcut

Tyler Webb and Will Lamb both played for the Canes summer ball team and hail from neighboring parts of Virginia. I would assume Lamb's comments reflect some long-standing bad blood between the two.

Posted by Noah | March 9, 2011 at 10:31 am | Shortcut

I don't know what Tanner is getting so red faced about. From having played both these teams while in College, with both these coaches heading them up, they are both chippy. And in my opinion, South Carolina is way worse than Clemson!

Posted by Mike | March 9, 2011 at 11:24 am | Shortcut

Boiler up! Keep rolling Boilers!

Posted by Matt | March 9, 2011 at 12:01 pm | Shortcut

Aaron: Did some follow-on research that may add to the discussion. In accordance with NCAA Baseball Rules, 2011-2012, Rule 1/The Game, Playing Field and Equipment, Section 12, "Any bat that does not display the approved certification mark or in the umpire’s judgment or upon appeal of the opposing team has been altered or flattened so as to affect the distance factor or cause an unusual reaction on the baseball, shall be removed from the game. If detected after the first pitch, the batter shall be declared out, and base runners shall not advance. If detected before the first pitch of an at-bat, an altered or flattened bat shall be removed from the game. The batter will be required to use a bat that conforms to the rule. If detected after an at-bat starts, the batter is out, and no runners may advance." So this begs the question: if the Carolina kids were warming their bats then by the definition of the rules they have altered the bat "so as to affect the distance factor." Leggett was correct in, at least, questioning the bat. While I am not questioning Ray Tanner's integrity, I may challenge the definition of the term "cheating" he may have learned from his days studying at NC State. If Carolina had warmed their bats and Tanner knew about it, wouldn't that constitute "cheating"? Unfortunately there is no smoking gun here. Bottom line: Rules are meant to keep the playing fields level and in this case protecting and ensuring the safety of the kids. There should be no wiggle room. For Carolina, Clemson, or any other school. Consider what happens if some pticher gets pegged between the eyes by a ball being hit off of a juiced (warmed) bat. The game may have been won but at what price?

Posted by John | March 9, 2011 at 2:23 pm | Shortcut

John, the problem is nobody really knows whether warming the bats does improve performance, first of all. South Carolina seems to think it minimizes vibration (and anyone who’s ever swung a metal bat in cold weather knows the vibrations can be unpleasant), but there is no evidence at this point that a warmer bat will hit a ball farther than a colder bat. There are all kinds of questions here: Should teams be prohibited from storing their bats inside the clubhouse on a cold day? Is it cheating if bats are stored in the sunlight, rather than the shade? Unless you propose all teams store their bats in hermetically sealed vaults between at-bats, there’s going to be some variance here. If you play with metal bats on a 30 degree day, the bats are going to be colder than they will be on a 70 degree day—that seems pretty natural and logical. My impression is that warming bats does not alter them in any unnatural way. If one of those NCAA labs says differently, I will certainly revise my opinion.

Posted by Aaron Fitt | March 9, 2011 at 9:20 pm | Shortcut

Bat heating to control vibrations has been done in baseball from high school to college since the 80's. Some cold weather schools actually have "bat warmers" in the dugout to reduce the pain of hitting a ball with a cold bat. There are two things that factor into this. 1) Kieboom complained about the bat so legget had to support his player by coming out and asking the ump to check it (which the umps said with disgust, "let's play ball" and 2) The Sunday win was the first mens sports head to head win for Clemson over South Carolina this academic year. (and only the 3 of 12 overall) with only mens tennis left. It's hard to be embarrassed like that and not find something to complain about.

Posted by Chris | March 12, 2011 at 10:02 pm | Shortcut