Tigers must 'Cowboy up'

CLEMSON - There was a touch of New England in the air Sunday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, even when the thermometer hit 90 and it was steamier than fresh boiled peanuts served aside soft black asphalt.

A pair of Clemson roommates from Massachusetts, Scott Weismann and Chris Dwyer, pitched the Tigers to victories over Tennessee Tech and Oklahoma State in Clemson Regional elimination games.

Coach Jack Leggett, particularly pleased with the 15-1 romp over Oklahoma State in the nightcap, is from Maine.

Another tie to Plymouth Rock and suburbs: To beat the Cowboys again tonight and advance to an NCAA super regional, the Tigers should embrace something like the "Cowboy Up" charge Kevin Millar and his Boston Red Sox teammates used on their way to winning the 2004 World Series.

If they do, Oklahoma State coach Frank Anderson's mind and stomach will go wandering again.

"After that seventh or eighth inning, I was trying to figure out where I was going to eat in Clemson," Anderson said.

Truth is, there are consequences for the Tigers.

High standards

If Clemson loses, the Tigers cannot use 2009 as a measure of progress. A 2008 season without an NCAA bid was an aberration, the only dry postseason since Leggett took over as head coach in 1994.

The standards are somewhere atop the long trail leading up through Table Rock State Park. Losing to a No. 3-seeded Oklahoma State bubble team at home would be a major disappointment any other Leggett year.

A win means Clemson is back in the super regional biz, where the Tigers belonged the first four years the concept existed (1999-2002) and again from 2005-2007.

"I look at it as we have an opportunity," Leggett said. "We have a challenge ahead of us. We just need to be focused and zeroed in like we were (Sunday). Hopefully, we'll play a good game."

Either way, Clemson looks good for next year.

Two freshmen (Brad Miller, Jason Stolz) were in the starting lineup of position players Sunday night and four are sophomores (Chris Epps, Jeff Schaus, John Nester, Addison Johnson). Sophomore outfielder/quarterback Kyle Parker appeared only as a pinch-hitter against Oklahoma State but has 55 starts this season. Weismann and Dwyer are freshmen but Dwyer is 21 and draft-eligible this month.

The space between groaning and glory is full of parity, much of it founded here on the shores of Lake Hartwell.

Probably not coincidentally, most Division I baseball program boats in the state went on to rise with Leggett's orange tide.

Clemson's College World Series appearances in 1995 and 1996 essentially made former South Carolina athletic director Mike McGee hire Ray Tanner away from N.C. State. Tanner built the Gamecocks into a perennial Omaha contender.

Pickens vs. Pickens

John Pawlowski, Leggett's pitching coach during those early back-to-back College World Series trips, led College of Charleston to its first three NCAA appearances - and a super regional - before leaving for Auburn.

Winthrop and The Citadel are the envy of most mid-major programs. Coastal Carolina is an NCAA Tournament regular and in 2008 hosted a regional on its Conway campus, advancing to a Super Regional at North Carolina.

The Chanticleers came into this tournament as a higher seed (No. 2) than Oklahoma State. The Citadel deserved as much bubble consideration as the Cowboys.

So far, however, it's even in the postseason battle pitting oil zillionaire Boone Pickens' favorite team against the pride of Pickens County.

In a 'pick 'em' game tonight, the super regional pass goes to the team able to Cowboy Up.

Reach Gene Sapakoff at gsapakoff@postandcourier.com or 937-5593.