State schedule, Sunday, May 27

ACC Tournament
Durham (NC) Bulls Athletic Park
Championship
Louisville vs. Florida State, noon, ESPN2

SEC Tournament
Hoover (AL) Metropolitan Stadium
Championship
Mississippi vs. LSU, 3 p.m., ESPN2

Southern Conference Tournament
Fluor Field, Greenville
SoCon Digital Network
Championship
Game 15: Samford vs. Mercer, noon
Game 16: if Samford loses Game 15, 40 minutes after Game 15

Sun Belt Conference Tournament
Russo Park, Lafayette LA
Championship
Coastal Carolina vs. Troy, 2 p.m., ESPN+

S.C. college baseball roundup, May 26

ACC, Durham, N.C.
* Florida State scored a run in the ninth inning and beat Clemson, 5-4, Saturday night to claim a spot against Louisville in Sunday's championship game.

The Seminoles got a two-run homer from Drew Mendoza in the second inning and that lead held up until the fourth. Kyle Wilkie singled to extending his hitting streak to 25 games. After Seth Beer walked, Chris Williams his his third 3-run homer of the tournament to put Clemson up, 3-2.

FSU scored a run on a wild pitch in the seventh, but Clemson regained the lead on a bases-loaded walk to Beer in the bottom of the inning.

Jackson Lueck homered to open the Seminoles eighth, and the next three batters reached before Ryley Gilliam got out of the inning.

Lueck drew a two-out walk in the FSU ninth. He stole second and scored the winning run on Rhett Alpin's single. Clemson went in order in the bottom of the inning.

Williams singled, doubled and homered to account for three of Clemson's five hits.

*Louisville won the day's first semifinal 5-2 over Pittsburgh.

Atlantic Sun, Jacksonville, Fla.
* Stetson beat North Florida, 6-0, to win the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Big South, Lynchburg, Va.
* Regular-season champion Campbell added the tournament title to its trophy case with a 7-5 win over High Point.

Colonial Athletic Association, Harrisonburg, Va.
* UNC Wilmington was forced to a second game, but won the tournament championship with a 7-4 win over Northeastern in the nightcap. The regular-season champion Huskies delayed their elimination with a 3-2 win in Saturday's opener.

SEC, Hoover, Ala.
*Mississippi and LSU advanced to Sunday's championship game with 2-1 victories over Texas A&M and Arkansas, respectively. Earlier Saturday, LSU ousted Florida, 11-0, in the completion of a Friday night game suspended by fog. The game was halted after seven innings because of the run rule.

Southern, Greenville
* Samford advanced to Sunday's championship round with a 10-3 win Mercer in a meeting of tournament unbeaten. Western Carolina, which needed a play-in win over The Citadel to reach the double-elimination portion of the bracket, beat regular-season champ UNC Greensboro for the second time in four days. 8-4, to stay alive.  But Mercer ended the Catamounts' run and reached Sunday's round with a 10-2 win in Saturday's final game.

Sun Belt, Lafayette. La.
* Coastal Carolina (41-17) advanced to Sunday's championship game with a 3-1 win over South Alabama.

Kevin Woodall Jr. and Matt Beaird had two hits and an RBI apiece. PArkcer Chavers also had two hits.   Four Chanticleers pitchers combined for a three-hitter. South Alabama's lone run was unearned.

* Troy claimed the spot opposite Coastal with a 10-0 win over Texas State. The game ended after seven innings because of the run rule.

State scoreboard, Saturday, May 26

ACC Tournament
Durham (NC) Bulls Athletic Park
Semifinals
Louisville 5, Pittsburgh 2
Florida State 5, Clemson 4 - Cle: Chris Williams 1B, 2B, 3-run HR

Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament
Harmon Stadium, Jacksonville FL
Stetson 6, North Florida 0, Stetson wins championship

Big South Conference Tournament
Liberty Baseball Stadium, Lynchburg VA
Campbell 7, High Point 5. Campbell wins championship

Colonial Athletic Association Tournament
Veterans Memorial Park, Harrisonburg VA
Northeastern 3, UNC Wilmington 2
UNC Wilmington 7, Northeastern 4, UNCW wins championship

SEC Tournament
Hoover (AL) Metropolitan Stadium
LSU 11, Florida 0, 7 innings
Mississippi 2, Texas A&M 1
LSU 2, Arkansas 1

Southern Conference Tournament
Fluor Field, Greenville
SoCon Digital Network
Samford 10, Mercer 3
Western Carolina 8, UNC Greensboro 4

Western Carolina vs. Mercer, 7 p.m.

Sun Belt Conference Tournament
Russo Park, Lafayette, LA
Coastal Carolina 3, South Alabama 1 - Coa: Kevin Woodall Jr. 2-4, BB, RBI
Troy 10, Texas State 0, 7 innings

Friday's S.C. college baseball roundup, May 25

ACC, Durham, N.C.
* Florida State beat N.C. State, 5-2, Friday night to win Pool C and advance to a 5 p.m. Saturday semifinal game with Clemson.  Clemson was the only top seed to win its pool and reach the semifinals.
* In other games, Louisville beat Duke, 9-2, to win Pool D and regular-season co-champion North Carolina beat Georgia Tech, 9-0, in a game with no bearing on the tournament title race.

Atlantic Sun, Jacksonville, Fla.
* Stetson moved into Saturday's championship round with a 9-8 win over Jacksonville. The Hatters will play North Florida, which beat Lipscomb, 7-6, and Jacksonville, 6-2.

Big South, Lynchburg, Va.
* Top-seeded Campbell lost to Liberty, 10-5, but bounced back to beat the Flames, 6-4, later in the day to reach the finals. High Point reached Saturday's title game with 4-1 win over Gardner-Webb.

Colonial Athletic Association, Harrisonburg, Va.
* UNC Wilmington beat Elon, 11-3, to remain undefeated entering Saturday's championship game. Regular-season champ Northeastern beat Delaware, 7-2, and then topped Elon, 5-4, to earn the right to meet the Seahawks.

SEC, Hoover, Ala.
* Arkansas beat top-seeded Florida, 8-2, to move into the finals of its bracket. The Hogs will play the winner of the LSU-Florida game. That game was halted by fog in the sixth inning and will be completed at 11 a.m. Saturday. LSU leads, 10-0.
* Mississippi beat Auburn, 7-0, to earn a berth in its bracket final against Texas A&M.

SoCon, Greenville
* Regular-season champion UNC Greensboro used three big innings to beat Wofford, 15-7, and end the Terriers' season at 37-22. The Spartans scored five in the third inning, four in the fourth and six in the ninth to advance to a Saturday game against Western Carolina.

McClain Bradley had two homers and drove in five runs for Wofford, which got as close and 5-4 and 9-7 before UNCG pulled away.

* Ninth-seeded Western Carolina (10-46) beat East Tennessee State, 11-8, in another elimination game to improve to 3-1 in the tournament. The Catamounts, who won two of three at Furman in the regular season, are 5-2 in Greenville County and 5-44 everywhere else this season.  A win on Saturday would give Western as many wins at Fluor Field this week has it had on its home field in Cullowhee (4) all season.

Sun Belt, Lafayette, La.
* South Alabama advanced to Saturday's bracket final against regular-season champ Coastal Carolina by run-ruling Georgia Southern, 12-0, in seven innings.
* Texas State beat Louisiana in seven innings, 11-0, and will play Troy in the other bracket final.

Ron Scarborough not letting health challenges keep him down

Ron Scarborough has been a tireless supporter of Upstate
sports on all levels. He was at Thursday's Southern
Conference Tournament as a member of the working media.
(Palmetto State Baseball photo)

I was sitting in top row of the Fluor Field grandstand before Furman's game in the Southern Conference Tournament on Thursday when someone tapped me on the shoulder.

I turned around and saw Ron Scarborough, sitting in a wheelchair.  I first got to know Ron when he operated a baseball card shop in Greenville 30 or more years ago and I still had my collection.  He later started a radio sports talk show. He's been on several area stations, most recently WGOG in Walhalla.

Ron has been a great friend of Palmetto State Baseball. He had me on weekly throughout the season for several years and frequently gave plugs for this Website.  He wanted me to continue this season, but I declined for reasons of my own and not anything to do with Ron.

Since I left The Greenville News in 2012 most of our interactions have either been at Doug Kingsmore Stadium during a Clemson game or via telephone. I saw him walking down the hall at St. Francis Hospital one day in 2016 while I was waiting for a heart cath that turned into having three stents implanted. His mom was having a hospital procedure the same day. Not long after that, I heard Ron had suffered a stroke. A few months later he had another. The total is now up to four over the past year or so.

His health and his appetite have been affected. He's lost 70 pounds and now uses a wheelchair to get around. He said there are only a couple of food items he can tolerate the taste of.

Ron is a proud holder of a PHD -- Parker High Diploma -- and I grew up going to church with several of his classmates. He's good people.

During my 40-year journalism career I worked alongside and in competition with many folks who provided great coverage of high school sports.  Some at the top of the list (this isn't meant to be comprehensive) are Tom Layton, Bob Castello and Scott Keeler at The Greenville News; Bill Mitchell at The State; Steve Sanders and Jason Gilmer at The Herald-Journal in Spartanburg; Barry Byers at The Herald in Rock Hill; Phil Kornblutt of S.C. SportsTalk; and Stan Olenik and Pete Yanity at WSPA-TV.

All those folks have done a lot of great work, but nobody -- N-O-B-O-D-Y -- has put more effort into getting the accomplishments of high school (and other youth level) athletes recognized than Ron.

Ron has hosted a Friday night high school football scoreboard show for more than a decade, including interviews from area coaches. His accompanying Internet scoreboard is a must-visit online destination. He's had a couple of dozen or so "mini"  high school football coaches shows weekly as part of his radio program in season. Despite his health challenges, he's planning to do the scoreboard show again this fall. "I need to get my voice stronger," he said Thursday.

He's been the reason some area "touchdown clubs" and baseball-softball clubs haven't folded. Those clubs' meeting always include some form of recognition for high school athletes for in-season accomplishments. He's helped promote the Big League World Series in Easley.

He's also big on helping youngsters -- like those at Shriners' hospitals -- with health challenges to experience special moments involving athletes or sports memorabilia.

He just loves bringing happiness to youngsters. On Thursday he showed me a Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card he'd brought to give to a youth he'd met at at earlier SoCon Tournament and expected to see this year.

The reason I write this is Ron is facing some tests in the coming days in an effort to determine -- and address -- the source of some of his problems.

I'd appreciate it -- and I know he would, too, -- if you'd remember him in your prayers.