When it comes to college baseball rivalries, Clemson vs. South Carolina is one of the best in the sport.
On Monday, Major League Baseball’s Colorado Rockies found themselves on both sides of that rivalry. The Rockies drafted Clemson infielder and slugger Blake Wright with their fourth-round pick at No. 106 overall. That was after the team added South Carolina catcher Cole Messina in the third round with the 77th overall pick.
Wright and Messina met on the diamond this past season when the Tigers and Gamecocks played their annual Palmetto Series. Clemson won both games, 5-4. In the Tigers’ thrilling walk-off victory in 12 innings on March 2 at Segra Park, both Wright and Messina had identical showings: 0 for 6 with three strikeouts apiece.
The next day, at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, Wright and Messina both homered. Wright had two hits in that game while Messina was 1 for 3 with two walks. Wright’s homer came in the eighth inning, giving Clemson some insurance headed into a ninth inning that saw South Carolina cut the lead to one on Ethan Petry’s two-out home run.
Wright finished the season mashing a team-high 22 home runs (tied with Jimmy Obertop), 75 RBIs and leading the Tigers with a .340 average. Messina posted similar numbers, also leading his team in home runs (21), RBIs (71) and batting average (.326) in 59 games.
Clemson-South Carolina is a rivalry that’s never too far from the minds of either school. Paul Mainieri underlined that point by taking a jab at the Tigers and the Upstate region in his introductory press conference as the Gamecocks’ new coach in June. Mainieri called Clemson “the team up north” and added: “Being in the midlands is a lot better than being in the Upstate. I can promise you that.”
Mainieri and the Gamecocks then proceeded to add two Clemson players to their roster via the transfer portal in outfielder Nathan Hall and INF/OF Nolan Nawrocki.
Hall saw limited playing time in 2024 (12 games) while Nawrocki became a regular in the starting lineup for a while and had some memorable at-bats, including a go-ahead home run against South Carolina in the sixth inning of the Tigers’ win on March 3.
Given that Wright just finished a torrid senior season and that Messina has a slot value of $1.01 million, the two sluggers could soon find themselves on the same team in the lower levels of the Rockies’ minor league system instead of in opposite dugouts of one of college sports’ most premier and intense rivalries.
Follow us @Clemson_Wire on X and on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news, notes and commentary.