You never know what is going to motivate a player or a team. For 14th-ranked Clemson on Friday, it was a gesture by South Alabama pitcher Drake Nightengale that got the Tigers going.
After Bryce Teodosio flied out to left field to end the fourth inning, Nightengale looked over at the Clemson dugout and gave the Tigers a throat-slashing gesture just before he walked off the mound. Most of the 4,435 fans at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson did not catch it. But the Tigers did.
“There was a little bit of trash talking going on at the beginning.