Nathan Hall knew he was good at baseball. He just wasn’t sure what else he had.

Like most college athletes, South Carolina baseball’s starting center fielder started playing the game at a young age.

But when it came to his elementary school’s talent show? Getting up on stage and throwing a ball around was not going to entertain the crowd. The show was only open to fifth graders, and Hall went home enthralled after watching it as a fourth grader. He loved the performance aspect, the showmanship, the entire event.

He just needed a talent.

Fortunately, a gift from his grandfather was the catalyst.

“My dad for Christmas just randomly out of the blue bought him one of those little electric drum pads,” Hall’s dad Daniel told GamecockScoop. “He opened it up and just really seemed to like it.”

A dozen years later, Hall is still jamming away.

Learning to play the drums was like anything else. Hall admits he didn’t really know what he was doing at first, just “smashing them” when he started out.

“It was a little annoying because I wasn’t any good yet,” Hall told GamecockScoop. “But it was just fun, and then at that point I wanted to take lessons.”

A year after starting lessons he found himself back at that talent show, and did exactly what he set out to do.

“He started taking drum lessons,” Hall’s mom Magdalena told GamecockScoop. “And over the whole year that was his whole goal, to perform in the fifth grade talent show. He was the hit of the show. He did a whole compilation of U2 and some other songs.”

Smashing became playing, and playing became performing. The rock songs he heard his dad play on the guitar or piano at family gatherings and holidays started to make their way onto his drums, a challenge in itself.

The first one of those — Tom Sawyer by Rush — was the turning point.

“That was kind of the first really difficult song I learned when I was taking lessons,” Hall remembered. “It was one of those moments where when I was able to learn that song I was like, ‘I want to do this for a while.’”

He hasn’t stopped since. Of course baseball is the priority right now, but he still makes time to play whenever he can. Especially with his dad, who still lives in South Carolina and plays himself. Hall keeps his drums in his apartment in Columbia. About once a month, he meets up with his dad to play. Def Leppard, Billy Joel — The Ballad Of Billy The Kid is his dad’s favorite — and plenty of other covers.

“There’s kind of a cool chemistry that develops,” Daniel said. “Much like playing in a team sport. When you play music with someone enough, you start to be able to anticipate what they’re doing.”

Of course, it is easy to draw the parallel. You swing a drumstick, you swing a baseball bat. You make contact with the target, and it makes a sound. The motions are not exactly the same, but both still require precise timing and mental focus. You can catch a note wrong and it will ruin a song, the same way you can roll over with the bases loaded if you hit a pitch off the end of the bat.

“When you’re learning to do a little riff or a beat, it’s one of those things where you have to think about it at first,” Hall explained. “But it gets so repetitive, you eventually have to trust yourself and your limbs are going to do the same thing. I think that applies to hitting as well.”

He transferred into a crowded outfield with a new coaching staff. The talent was obvious, but his college baseball resume was thin. Hall played in just 51 games total in two years at Clemson, and only had 96 collegiate at-bats to his name when he arrived in Columbia.

His relationship with former Clemson head coach and current South Carolina hitting coach Monte Lee was enough to get him in the door. Lee recruited him, and knew what he could do. All through fall practice, winter workouts and preseason scrimmages, Hall worked to carve a space out on the roster.

Eventually it was obvious that not only was he the best center fielder on the roster, he was also the ideal mix of power, speed and energy to set the tone at the top of the order. He earned enough daily action in scrimmages where it all just became muscle memory. Finally, he had consistent reps to perfect that swing and gain the repetition he uses in music.

“You work as much as you can,” Hall said. “You think about what you need to do with your swing, and then you just let it happen. You trust your body to do what it needs to do.”

Just like drumming.

Hall’s start as a Gamecock has been nothing short of remarkable. The Clemson transfer has started all nine games in center field, is hitting a blistering .433, has already homered twice and is tied for the team lead with 10 RBIs.

“I look at him and I see a future Major Leaguer,” head coach Paul Mainieri said. “I’ve had some really good players in my coaching career, and Nathan has the capabilities of being right up there with any of them.”

He is not the first player to cross the bridge in arguably college baseball’s most intense rivalry, but his immediate success as a Gamecock will make him a flashpoint figure of the 2025 series.

“It was one of those situations where I really had to put my emotions to the side and figure out what was best for me,” Hall said. “These coaches support me and see the kind of player I am. I’m so grateful to be here.”

As South Carolina (9-0) prepares for its annual rivalry series against Clemson this weekend, Hall will be right in the middle of it. The former Tiger will almost surely take the first at-bat of the series on Friday night, undoubtably to a chorus of boos back in the ballpark he once called home.

But once that first pitch flies, he'll be back in his comfort zone.

Drumming up South Carolina's offense. *******************************************************************************************

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