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It’s rare for Clemson and Florida to get together on the playing fields or courts. It’s even rarer in the big three sports – Football, Men’s Basketball and Baseball.
To put it into perspective, no Florida team in football, men’s basketball or baseball has been to Clemson since 1934. That will change Saturday when Florida visits Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson for a 2 p.m. first pitch in the Clemson Super Regional.
The last time Clemson played the Gators in any of the big three sports came in 2017 when Brad Brownell’s basketball Tigers beat Florida 71-69 in the Orange Bowl Classic.
The basketball team has an 11-9 all-time record against the Gators, including a 6-3 mark in Clemson.
The football team has not played Florida since September 23, 1961, in Gainesville, Fla. The Gators beat Clemson on that Saturday 21-17.
In all, the Gators own a 9-3-1 record against Clemson on the gridiron. The Tigers’ last win in the series came in 1954 in Jacksonville, Fla. Clemson won 14-7 that day in the Gator Bowl. It was a regular season game.
The Tigers have hosted Florida just twice in Clemson, both losses. The last time the Gators were in Clemson for a football game came in 1925, a 42-0 win for the visitors.
The Clemson Baseball team has had a little bit more success than football, though the Gators lead the all-time series 18-12. The two teams have not played on the diamond since 1983, a two-game sweep for the Gators.
However, Clemson swept Florida in three games in 1982.
The Tigers have played Florida just twice in Clemson all-time. Both of those meetings came all the way back in 1930 when the two split a two-game series.
Though the Tigers and Gators have not played very much on the diamond or in the previous 40 years, the two have met before with a trip to the College World Series on the line.
In 1958, Bill Wilhelm’s first year as Clemson’s head coach, the Tigers met the Gators in what was then called the NCAA District III Tournament in Gastonia, N.C. Florida knocked off the Tigers in the first game, 8-6, but Clemson came all the way back through the losers’ bracket to get a second chance at Florida in the District Finals.
Clemson knocked off the Gators15-14 to avoid elimination and then beat them 3-1 in the championship game to advance to the program’s first College World Series.
Maybe that is a good sign for the Tigers in this weekend’s Super Regional.