... Clemson's odds of winning the ACC Atlantic Division title looked long after the Tigers dropped two of three at Wake Forest a week ago to fall three games behind Florida State with three games to play. They needed to sweep the Seminoles to move into a tie for first and get the title by the head-to-head tiebreaker. Clemson did just that, rallying for three runs in the eighth to win the opener, then jumping on FSU early in each of the next two games to win with relative ease. A good showing as the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament at Greensboro beginning Wednesday might get the Tigers back in the mix to host a regional.
... Even more amazing was Furman's charge to get the final slot in the Southern Conference Tournament. When the Paladins won the first two games with (eventual conference runner-up College of Charleston), they looked ready to climb in the league standings. Instead, they lost their next 10 SoCon games and fell four games behind eighth-place Wofford with six games to play. A sweep of Wofford head-to-head pulled Furman within one game, meaning the Paladins could qualify for the tournament by doing one game better that the Terriers over the final weekend of the season. On Saturday, Furman wrapped up a sweep of UNC Greensboro while Wofford was being swept in a doubleheader by Appalachian State to lose the series 0-3, giving the Paladins eighth place by a two-game margin.
... The Citadel made sure it didn't have to share the SoCon regular-season title with College of Charleston, beating third-place Georgia Southern twice to win the title outright.
...The dramatic rally in the sixth and seventh inning in the 10-inning victory over Bluefield for the NCCAA World Series championship likely kept a long Saturday for North Greenville from being even longer. The Crusaders had already defeated Southeastern earlier in the day, so they would have faced a third straight game with little break had they not defeated Bluefield. Crusaders coach Travis Henson said the team likely would have headed back to Tigerville from the Cincinnati area Saturday night even if they had played that additional game. What was a late, albeit happy, bus trip back to Tigerville could have been even later.
... Coastal Carolina got rained out of its season finale at Radford, meaning it completed the Big South schedule unbeaten (25-0). The Chanticleers became the second team to finish the conference schedule unbeaten. Coastal went 15-0 in 1988.
... South Carolina gained a small measure of consolation with its 11-6 win over Florida in the season finale, but the Gamecocks had some anxious moments after going up 8-0. The Gators scored six runs in the seventh and had the tying run on base before USC escaped. The Gamecocks added three insurance runs later against a Florida team that rested several of its starters after clinching the SEC title with Friday's victory.
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