A New Feel to Rivalry

by Mickey Plyler - Radio Host - Thu Mar 03 09:34:45 GMT-04:00 2016

A New Feel to Rivalry

Clemson and South Carolina will renew their baseball rivalry this weekend, but it will have a completely different feel. For the first time since 1993, the games will not feature either Jack Leggett in the Clemson dugout and/or Ray Tanner in the South Carolina dugout.

Tanner led the Gamecock program for 16 years. He had epic battles in Columbia, Clemson, Greenville and Omaha against Clemson and seemed to embrace the rivalry.

Leggett was at Clemson for 22 seasons and the sight of South Carolina fueled his emotions as well. He played the Gamecocks three years before Tanner arrived in Columbia and three more after Tanner moved up to the athletic director's chair.

So from 1997 to 2012 Tanner and Leggett battled, scratched and clawed for every win in the series. It was different not having Tanner around the last three seasons, but it will feel very different without either figure this weekend.

Clemson and South Carolina want to win the series, but the series will take on a different meaning for each staff. In Columbia, Chad Holbrook needs to win the series. His program has dipped each season as he is just starting his fourth campaign. He needs a win to help right the ship.

Tanner's last three seasons saw two national titles and a national runner-up finish. It was going to be hard for anyone to live up to those standards. When Holbrook took the reigns, I said on my radio show that no one could do what Tanner did and it was almost unfair to expect anything close. However, the Gamecocks have fallen further than most expected.

In Holbrook's first season, the Gamecocks went 43-20, hosted a regional and almost won on the road in the Super Regional. The second season saw South Carolina go 44-18, but Maryland beat the Gamecocks twice in a Columbia regional. Last season South Carolina fell to 32-25 including 13-17 in the SEC and a fifth-place finish in their division.

Holbrook took over a national power and in his first three seasons fell from a super regional, to losing a home regional, to even not making the NCAA tournament.

Last season, the Gamecocks lost the Clemson series, so it is easy to see why Holbrook needs to win the series and give the fan base a sense of getting the program back on track.

Meanwhile Monte Lee enters his first series at Clemson against his new arch rival. There is a reason Lee is here, and it is to rebuild the program. Therefore, there is much less pressure on Lee and his program because they are building.

A win for Holbrook would send a great message and build some confidence. A win for Lee would accelerate his progress and send a message that there is a new sheriff in town.

The rivalry used to be the best in college baseball, but that was when there was a good chance the teams could face each other each year in Omaha. It was huge when both programs were ranked in the top ten in the country.

It is still the Tigers and Gamecocks. It is still orange and purple versus garnet and black. But this weekend we get our first look at Holbrook vs Lee.

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

src="https://2cic.b-cdn.net/t/ads/plyler/allstate_logo.gif" border=0>

border=0>

Prayer List

The prayer list is a medium for our community to recognize those that are in need. If you would like to add someone to the list, please email me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com. Please let me know when it is appropriate to remove a person off the list.

Those who need our prayers include: Jo Ann Bachman, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got Igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard, Gillespie and his family, Jim S., Daniel Rosborough, the Huffman family, Nancy Winkler, John Reeve, Vinnie Brock, Kaitlyn L., Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, Jeffrey Greene, the Hutto family, Sherl Drawdy, Caleb Kennedy, Teresa O'Connor, Matt Jacobs, Perrin Seigler, Candee Massee, Lindsey Jordan, Sam Catoe, Tyler Felch, the Nicolopulos family, "the Jacksonville, FL guys," Kim Sims, the Coyle family, Ryleigh Tedder, Steve Lee, Kelly Trakas, Jimmy Moore, the Thomas V. family, Emary Claire Young, Kitty Bowers, Julie Locke, the Scheider family, Lauren Kittles' family, Frank Gentry, Stacey McKeown, Dale Childs, Larry Lentz, Jr., Carl Sharperson, Scott Hannon, William Perry, Tyler Swaney, Lillian, Mark Feit, David Frame, the family of Matthew M. Watson, the Dowis family, Alan Putnam, the Olivers, Lee Tate, Ronnie Abrams, Eddie Greene, the Jackson family, Bill Vader, Jim Taylor, Tina DeWitt, Rock Horne, Bobby Wayne Thomas, Emma and Danielle Carothers, Robert Ditty, Mr. and Mrs. Murray Smith, Millie Heatley, Lynn Martin and family, Michael Pinson, Jake David family, Angie Crowley, Ira, Poly Wells, Dr. Muriel Bishop, Jack Cunningham, Emily Jefford Meister, Aaron Clackum, Pat James, Cortney Moore, William Moore, Angelia and Savannah Anderson, Scott Johns, Frank Carroll, Brandon Thompson, Alvin Sammons, Georgine McAlhaney, Glen Davis, Mike Price, Aaron Knight, Danielle Johnston and family, Nicholas Abrams, Lana Kuykendall, Gary, Gary G., William Huggins, Jim Bennett, Chantz Fowler, Ethel McElveen, Michele Gurganus, William Gentry, Lewis Usher and Tanya Sanders, Shon Cooper, Nick Collins, Amanda Peake, Chip Turner, Nick Collins, Allen Steen, the Sturkey family, the Lance family, Nick Chrisley's family, Allison Williams, Lt. Kyle Walker, Summer and Joel Johnson, Nicole O'Donnell, James O. Johnson, Joy Pruett and family, Bill Schmidt, Jack Bailey, Gardner Family, Charles Turner, Kathy Bartholomew, Ray Sanders, David and Robin Blocker, J.R. Ray, Kenneth Kowe, Lauren Sielicki, Jenna Phipps, Mark Lawrence, Jonathan and Jacki Sullins, Peter Laboy, Kat and Carlisle Jones, Elizabeth Galloway and family, Anita McDonald, Willard Harryman, Liz Surratt, Molly Senn, Jackie Shearer, Richard Sellers, Tim Drisdelle, Susan and Mike Brown, Julie Goodman Marshall, Willard and Dorothy Harryman, Justin Jernigan, Jack Cunningham, Mia Daughtery, Tee Senn, Skylar, Joseph Thomas, Mrs. Nelis, Sean Rowell, George Parker, Levon Kirkland and family, Catherine Sewell, Randy Davenport, David Vaughn, Keith Dalton, B.T., Bill Hilbig, Rita Elrod Hammond and family, Jim McKeller, Tony Alewine, Sharon Storck, Dick Baird, Richard Bagnal, Dustin and Brittany Peurifoy, Jan Allan, Josh Cox, Gregg and Sylvia Lewis, Travis Hamrick, Kaki Harmon, Jammie McKellar and babies, Karen Edwards, Jackson Lindsey, Cathy Hutson Gregg, Kristin Heckman, Jennifer Johnson, Jay Johnson, Lyndsie Johnson, Emily Davis, Hayes Davis, Judy Towe, Johnny Towe, Ken Brown, Elaine Brown, Rhonda Thompson, Tim Davis, Jacob Greinke, Jack Finley, Richard and Clara Crawford, Zach and Griffin Johnson, Israel, Frankie Allen, Bobby Allen, the Wessinger family, the Parsons family, Todd Price and family, Rosemary A Flynn, Dr. Mickey Shealy family, Mr. Gillespie, Bobbi Nicholson, Dr. Matt Stower, Tyler Kemmerlin, Parks Hutto, Patrick Destefano, Robert Summerville, Michelle Richey, Julie Moore, Ashley Fitch, Drew Moyer, Kevin Anderson, Lyn Price, John Robert Smith, Allison Williams, Nicholas Wickiser, Lena Wright, Elizabeth Bruner, Bobbi Simpson, Hammond Family, Elaine G. Duvall, Addison Grace, Bennie Cunningham, Kevin Orcutt, Alan Finley, Keith Wells, Steve Byrd, Jessica Hernandez, Wayne Mullins, Rita Alexander, Tony Osterman, family and friends of Gary Cooper, Tonya Gibson, Mary Carmen Harman, Derk Denton, Tim Vacek, Mike Vacek, Jerry Brown, Phil Compton, Alma Jean Sullivan, Lindsey Motley, and our great country and the men and women in uniform that protect and serve it every day, plus their families.