Winners and Losers, May 17

The college baseball world didn't revolve around the performances of South Carolina teams this weekend. It only seems that way because the national message boards are chock full of discussions about the weekends Clemson, Coastal Carolina and South Carolina had.

If someone had told you before the weekend that in the series involving Clemson and USC that one team would get a sweep and the other would lose two of three, would you honestly have thought that it would be USC with the sweep and Clemson with the two losses?

We get Monday off for a little R&R before the schedule picks up again on Tuesday.


WINNERS
Coastal Carolina -- The Chanticleers were never seriously challenged as they wrapped up the Big South regular-season title, stayed unbeaten in league play and showed there's a sizable gap between themselves and the current No. 2 program in the conference, Liberty. With a school-Division I-record 45 wins, the Chanticleers seem to be in excellent shape for -- and deserving of -- one of the eight national seeds.

College of Charleston -- Because only 11 Southern Conference teams play baseball, the Cougars (22-8 SoCon) get to be scoreboard-watchers the final week of league play. They'll be huge Georgia Southern fans -- the Eagles play host to first-place The Citadel (21-6), which leads CofC by a half-game. Assuming all three games get played, the Bulldogs must win at least two to take the regular-season title. The Cougars have the edge in a tiebreaker by virtue of winning two of three league games head-to-head. Georgia Southern could match the Cougars' 22-8 record by sweeping the Bulldogs, but CofC has the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Daniel Stallsmith -- The sophomore left-hander is setting himself up to be Furman's No. 1 starter next season with a strong finish this season. He moved into the weekend rotation the fourth week of conference play and has given coach Ron Smith no reason to move him out. He picked up two wins in this weekend's sweep of Wofford -- as the starter on Friday and as a reliever on Sunday.

Furman -- Anything less than a sweep of Wofford over the weekend and the Paladins' SoCon Tournament chances would essentially have been kaput. All the Paladins did was rout the Terriers twice and get a dramatic three-run homer from Brian Harrison in the eighth inning Sunday to complete the sweep. They're not out of the woods yet, but one game out of the final tournament spot with three games to go is about as good as the Paladins could ask for after their struggles down the stretch in conference play.

Mark Calvi -- There's been a segment of USC fans who have held Calvi, the pitching coach, responsible whenever the Gamecocks didn't meet fan expectations. They'd gripe about misuing pitchers, abusing pitchers and other failures at the drop of a hat. But make no mistake about it: Pitching is responsible for USC being two wins away from winning the SEC regular-season title. The Gamecocks have eight shutouts among their 41 wins. Blake Cooper has been phenomenal as the Friday starter. The bullpen is deep and reliable. In the sweep of Arkansas, USC held Arkansas to .170 hitting and the bullpen combined to go eight innings without allowing a run. Give Calvi some props.

North Greenville -- The Crusaders had hoped to ride a couple of wins over NCAA Division II powers into an at-large bid to the DII playoffs, but fell short. With the National Christian College Athletic Association playoffs as a fallback option, coach Travis Henson's team made the most of the situation. NGU won all three games in the regional tournament at Chowan last week to earn a spot in the NCCAA World Series near Cincinnati later this month.

South Carolina -- A weak non-conference schedule overall kept the Gamecocks from being in the national seed discussion for much of the season. The three-game weekend sweep of Arkansas has USC solidly in the mix. USC was 4-15 at Fayetteville before the weekend. If the Gamecocks can get their No. 3 starter situation resolved, they'll be dangerous.

The Citadel -- Sweeping UNC Greensboro wasn't a surprise, but with Charleston being red-hot, the Bulldogs couldn't afford to stumble and hold on to first place in the SoCon. They didn't stumble.

USC Beaufort -- The Sand Sharks had a disappointing two-and-out in The Sun Conference Tournament after finishing second in the regular. They got a chance for redemption earning an at-large bid to the NAIA playoffs.

USC Upstate -- The Spartans picked up a nice Atlantic Sun Conference series win over Kennesaw State, a program that has had several players selected in the MLB draft in recent years.

LOSERS
Charleston Southern -- The Buccaneers went into the weekend with a 1 1/2-game edge over UNC Asheville for the final spot in the Big South Conference Tournament -- and promptly got swept by the Bulldogs to fall 1 1/2 games back with one weekend remaining.

Clemson -- The Tigers' problems of a few weeks back returned as they lost two of three to last-place Wake Forest -- or maybe Maryland was just so bad that the problems never went away and we didn't realize it. Regardless, scoring 17 runs in the middle game doesn't make up for the bookend stinko performances wrapped around it. Clemson still can win the ACC Atlantic Division, but has no margin for error. Anything less than a sweep of Florida State this weekend and the Seminoles take the division.

Jack Leggett -- It's mind-numbing to read all the criticism of Clemson's veteran coach on message boards, Facebook and similar venues, and being routed twice by Wake Forest will only add fuel to the fire. I don't know whether the discontent has been there all along, or whether it's a new manifestation brought about by series losses to Duke, North Carolina and Wake. Duke and Wake can't qualify for the ACC tournament and UNC will need some help to do so. Would a sweep of Florida State to win the ACC Atlantic Division title quiet the critics?

Wofford -- Winning once against Furman would have clinched no worse than a tie for eighth place and the final slot in the league tournament. The Terriers couldn't do it, missing their best chance on Sunday when Furman's Brian Harrison hit a two-out three-run homer in the eighth to erase a 10-8 Wofford lead built by a three-run Terriers eighth. Now, there will be some anxious moments for the Terriers as they play host to Appalachian State and Furman visits struggling UNC Greensboro.