A nine game winning streak has come to a screeching halt as the Clemson Tigers came away with a three game sweep over the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Paul Mainieri stood on the grass of Fluor Field on Saturday — having already lost his first Palmetto series before every even facing Clemson at home — sounded like a man who lost his wallet and was prepared to trek through a sewer if that’s what it took.

Clemson baseball completed a dominant sweep over South Carolina, winning nine of the last 11 rivalry matchups and proving who runs the Palmetto State.

The Tigers were up 1-0 until the eighth when they pulled ahead 4-0 on a Collin Priest three-run home run and that would be the start of a late-game offensive surge.

The No. 13 Tigers, who won 5-3 in Clemson last night, went up 2-0 in the rivalry series heading into Sunday’s finale at Founders Park in Columbia. It’s the first time Clemson has won back-to-back series against USC since 2017-18.

The unbeaten Volunteers were the class of the Astros Foundation College Classic. Defending national champion Tennessee (11-0) swept past Oklahoma State, Rice and Arizona. Four Tennessee relievers shut down Arizona in the de facto championship game of the event over the final seven innings.

Ethan Darden, who pitched 7.0 scoreless innings of three-hit ball on Saturday, won the Bob Bradley Award as Clemson’s MVP of the series

The Tigers built a quick 4-0 lead Friday and held on for the win. The series shifts to Fluor Field in Greenville on Saturday.

A three-run homer from Collin Priest in the eighth inning helped Clemson (10-1) break the game open, while Jarren Purify added an RBI single in the fifth. However, the biggest story of the day was the Tigers' pitching.

There's a lot of confidence surrounding this Clemson Tigers baseball team. Since Erik Bakich left Michigan to take the head coaching job with Clemson ahead of the 2023 season, they have taken major steps forward as a program,