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| Freshman Chris Okey leads Clemson with 25 runs batted in. |
* It was more of the same for Clemson during Saturday's doubleheader loss to Florida State. The Tigers were hurt by shaky defense and ineffective relief pitching. Both have been bugaboos during the 14-9 season. Clemson's bullpen has failed in five save situations. On the bright side, highly regarded freshman Chris Okey continued to be a major part of the Tigers' offense. He was 6-for-12 for the series to raise his batting average to .299. He also made a superb leaping catch and swipe tag to retire a Florida State runner trying to score from first on a single to Steven Duggar in right field during Saturday's first game.
* While there's a faction of Clemson fans eager to part ways with Tigers coach Jack Leggett for what they perceive as a decline in the program, the players still have the support of the rank-and-file fans attending the games. There was a nice crowd of family, friends and autograph-seekers waiting to interact with the Clemson players after Saturday's nightcap.
* As a football sidenote, two of the ACC's top quarterbacks in 2013 were in Doug Kingsmore Stadium Saturday, and they received a vastly different reaction. Tajh Boyd of Clemson entered the stadium early during Saturday's second game and was quickly besieged by well-wishers.
Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston of Florida State, a two-sport star, was booed roundly during a relief appearance. Some of it likely was because he led the Seminoles to a 51-14 win at Clemson last fall in what was expected to be a showdown game. Some of it was because of what was posted on Winston's Twitter account: It was a picture of Death Valley and the caption "Our House." He was unfazed and certainly not rattled, pitching the final 2 1/3 innings of the nightcap to get the save. After Saturday's doubleheader sweep Winston Tweeted a picture of Doug Kingsmore Stadium, the caption "our house part two" and a smiley face.
The Tweets follow:
Jameis Winston
Our house 😌 pic.twitter.com/XuMGQWK0k5
Our house Part 2 😁 pic.twitter.com/y9hwENfwW7
* Lander's offense hit .469, hit 12 home runs and put up 50 runs in a three-game Peach Belt Conference sweep of Montevallo. The Bearcats have won their last 10 games and I don't think the Bearcats did anything to threaten their high status in the NCAA Division II national rankings.
Lander's Connor Lewis hit his 12th home run of the season on Sunday, breaking the previous school record with almost a month left in the regular season.
* USC Aiken righted the ship after losing two games the previous week. A sweep of North Georgia capped a 4-0 week for the Pacers.
* South Carolina likely won't remain No. 1 in any of the major national rankings after losing two of three at Kentucky. Lexington has been a chamber of horrors for the Gamecocks, who snapped a seven-game losing streak at Cliff Hagan Stadium with a 5-3 victory to salvage Sunday's series finale. USC fans may have some anxious moments until they hear the health status of junior catcher Grayson Greiner. He appeared to suffer some discomfort in his left wrist/arm area after swinging at a pitch late in the game. He did remain in the game.
Another area of concern for Gamecocks fans could be Friday night starter Jordan Montgomery. He had a second consecutive rough outing.
* South Carolina's five NJCAA Region 10 baseball teams hold the top five spots in the league standings as the midway point of region play approaches. Since each series involves four games, there the potential for a lot of movement each weekend. A dandy matchup is on tap this weekend: Spartanburg Methodist, which shares second place with USC Lancaster, and first-place Florence-Darlington Tech play in Florence.
* Anderson didn't get downcast when a couple of unearned runs staked Tusculum to a 12-10 lead in the 10th inning of Saturday's doubleheader opener. The Trojans won with three runs in the bottom of the inning.
* College of Charleston tried some aggressive out-of-conference scheduling with a road trip to Houston, but came home with three losses and some frustration. The Cougars appeared to have tied Saturday's middle game in the top of the ninth inning. However, Houston appealed that tying runner Blake Butler missed third. The umpire ruled Butler out for missing third. Instead of being the tying run, Butler was the final out of the game. I could not find a working video of the play on the Internet. Kendall Rogers of PerfectGame.org said he was told the replay supported the umpire's call.
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