Baseball is back in Tigertown. Clemson baseball returned to Doug Kingsmore Stadium on Thursday evening when it took on the Savannah Bananas for the second year in a row, kicking off the weekend that culminated with a charity event for a former Tiger.
To begin the jam-packed weekend, the Tigers faced off against the Banana Ball All-Stars, looking to avenge their loss from a year ago. Much like last year, the spectacle was full of excitement and theatrics.
Many fans may remember when infielder Jay Dillard arrived at the plate for his first at-bat on horseback last year. This year, it was catcher Jacob Jarrell making a spectacular entrance as he entered the field on the back of a motorcycle in a leather biker’s vest.
The atypical entrances did not end there.
In the third inning, Ty Dalley, a new addition from Mercer, walked up to the plate donning a firefighter’s helmet. As he stepped into the batter’s box, his bat was doused in lighter fluid and lit aflame.
After a few swings and misses, the flame of the bat died out. However, that didn’t stop Dalley from launching a ball into right field for his unofficial first home run as a Tiger.
Amid the stunts and performances, there was still a game to be won. This year, the Tigers came out on top with a final score of 4-3.
After the night of Banana Ball, Clemson had some more fun on Friday evening, as it hosted a Halloween batting practice. Players dressed in costumes as the Tigers welcomed kids to join them on the field.
Clemson head coach Erik Bakich mentioned that more than 300 children showed up for the event. The winner of best costume was almost unanimous among the kids: the six-seven costume worn by pitchers Dan Margolies and Noah Samola.
On Saturday afternoon, Clemson went back to traditional baseball as the Tigers played a 12-inning fall ball match against Alabama. Freshmen and transfers were the big story in the exhibition, as newcomers made big plays on both sides of the ball.
In the third inning, freshman two-way player Dylan Harrison launched a two-run home run ball into deep center field. The homer drove in Georgia transfer Bryce Clavon, who had hit for a single in the at-bat before.
Clavon made waves in the outfield as well, as he made a leaping grab against the wall in the next inning to deny Alabama its first run of the game. Just an inning later, Dalley did much of the same to bring an end to the fifth inning.
At the end of the 12 innings, the Tigers came out on top in an 8-3 victory over the Crimson Tide. While the score may not show it, the game could have easily gone the other way for Clemson, as it consistently allowed Alabama into scoring position throughout the match.
“We had one to three runners on base every inning,” Bakich said in his postgame remarks. “Somehow, miraculously, we only allowed three single runs in 12 frames.”
After the win on Saturday afternoon, the focus for the Tigers shifted toward a cause that goes beyond baseball.
On Sunday morning, Clemson hosted “Tigers Fore Tyler,” a charity golf event to raise money for Tyler Corbitt, a former Clemson baseball player who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic lung cancer.
Corbitt was a player during Bakich’s first year as head coach of the team.
“Tyler’s a man’s man,” Bakich said in his media availability last Wednesday. “He’s one of the toughest kids I’ve ever coached.”
“I will always remember Tyler Corbitt as just being an incredible teammate, incredibly tough, battled some injuries with a smile on his face, and it certainly seems like there’s a version of that approach that he’s taken with something very, very serious,” Bakich added.
As of Monday morning, the Tigers Fore Tyler website for the charity event indicated that over $22,000 had been raised. Additionally, a GoFundMe page set up to support Corbitt’s treatment has brought in more than $121,000.
As the weekend drew to a close, the Tigers will start preparing for the 2026 season. The next time Clemson is scheduled to play is when it kicks off the season on Feb. 13 at home against Army.
