Montgomery pitches South Carolina past Clemson 6-0

Chad Holbrook was head coach for his first rivalry game for South Carolina as Ray Tanner, now the athletics director, spent his first Clemson game off the field in 17 years watching from the Gamecocks' radio booth.

Tanner watched his team win by taking advantage of mistakes and making all the small plays. The Gamecocks scored by beating out a throw from first after a ground-out, on a walk, a pair of sacrifice flies, a throwing error from a pitcher and a single.

The Tigers had three errors, and the five of the Gamecocks' six runs came in innings when Clemson made mistakes.

"We've been playing good defense but we hurt ourselves a couple of times," Tigers coach Jack Leggett said.

And Clemson again ran into a dominating pitcher. This time it was Montgomery, a sophomore from Sumter.

"Jordan has got a great change-up. I think he was able to pitch inside. The velocity on his fastball was very good. He felt good. He had better command tonight than he had his previous two starts this season," Holbrook said.

And he had the trust of his manager. With South Carolina up 4-0 in the bottom of the seventh, Steve Wikerson doubled to become the only Tiger to lead off an inning by getting on base. Shane Kennedy then drew a walk, prompting a trip to the mound.

Holbrook kept his starter in, and Montgomery got a long fly ball to center, a short pop-up to second and a fly ball just past the infield to ease his way out of the jam.

"He's an unflappable kid. He doesn't mind the tight moments," Holbrook said.

Montgomery wanted to finish the game. "I was only at 112 pitches, so I figured I could throw at least 10 more," he said.

But Holbrook sent in ace reliever Tyler Webb, who struck out the side in the ninth. The coach said it was too early to use Montgomery too much.

South Carolina scored its first run in the fifth on Holbrook's first in-game decision in the rivalry. He put in football running back Shon Carson to pinch run. Carson made an excellent decision, sprinting home from third and sliding headfirst to just beat the tag after Tanner English's infield grounder and put the Gamecocks ahead 1-0.