By Will Vandervort / Photo Clemson University.

Before the season even got started Clemson pitcher Matthew Crownover gave anyone who would listen some inside information on fellow pitcher Brody Koerner.

“He is going to be something else,” the Tigers ace said at the time.

Though Koerner’s 2.25 earned run average and 1-1 record after two games this season was okay, no one was really blown away with the junior’s numbers in his first two starts as Clemson’s No. 3 guy in the rotation.

In his first game against West Virginia, he struggled to find his mark as he walked three batters and gave up one earned run on three hits in four innings of work. But his second outing against Maine the following week was much better. He pitched eight innings, allowing just two runs on eight hits. And though he had only three strikeouts, his control was much better as he did not give up a walk.

Then came Monday’s performance in Columbia against No. 8 South Carolina at Carolina Stadium. It was a performance no one outside the Clemson dugout saw coming. The righty fanned seven USC batters and baffled them all afternoon in a four-hit shutout.

“He deserved the chance to finish that thing off,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said. “He started it in such great fashion, had a great middle of it and he did not show any signs of weakness at all. If he had, we would have had other guys ready to go, but he did such a great job tonight.”

“My fastball command has really been the big turnaround,” Koerner said afterwards. “(Coach Dan Pepicelli) and me worked on it last spring. We just changed my mechanics a little bit and I have been able to command the fastball.”

Koerner could not command his pitches much at all last season. After a successful freshman campaign in 2013, he struggled early in 2014 and had issues finding the strike zone. He walked five batters in a loss to Georgia Southern, in which he did not make it out of the third inning, and then he came back and struggled against Georgia the next month as he walked four batters in an inning and a third.

So it was easy to see why few believed what Crownover was saying in the weeks leading up to the start of the season.

“He came from a really tough spot last year. He had trouble getting people out,” Leggett said after his Tigers took two of three games against the Gamecocks for the first time since the 2010 season. “Right now he is really in a good spot. He was in a great spot this summer when he pitched and in the fall and into the spring.

“That is what we have been seeing out of him against our hitters. He is intelligent. He is hard working and he is in great shape.  From start to finish tonight he was just in a really good spot for us.”

Against South Carolina (7-3) Koerner worked the plate with a breaking ball that South Carolina batters could not figure out all night. Besides fanning seven batters, he induced 10 ground balls.

“I can’t say that it didn’t feel good,” he said. “I kept it down and that is what got the ground balls.”

Koerner said he did not overpower the Gamecocks, but instead forced a lot of ground balls and the defense made the plays behind him.

“They did a great job,” he said.

For his performance, Koerner was recognized as the recipient of the Bob Bradley Award, which goes to the Most Valuable Clemson Player from the Clemson-South Carolina series.

“Brody Koerner was outstanding on the mound,” Leggett said. “I have been coming down here a long time, but I don’t think I have ever seen anyone go start to finish and be in command as he was.

“He had a great pace to his game.”

And found his mark.