What Saturday's results meant for state teams, May 10

* Clemson bounced back strongly from Friday night's frustrating loss to beat Notre Dame, 8-0, behind a four-hit shutout by former Byrnes High star Daniel Gossett. The Tigers got three gift runs from the Irish on a bases-loaded error and that was more than enough for Gossett. The Tigers' NCAA regional host hopes are likely dangling by the thinnest of threads  and they can't afford another regular-season loss and have any expectation of hosting. In fact, they may need to win their final five games to have a reasonable prospect of getting at at-large bid. The next step to winning out is a Sunday morning series finale against the Irish.

* South Carolina continued to hit the ball better than it did during  about a three-week span of troubles, but the Gamecocks couldn't get the hit they needed to break open Saturday's game with Missouri. In fact, the margin of USC's 3-1 victory came on unearned runs off of Missouri errors. Max Schrock and D.C. Arendas both look like they're getting their swings back in form after some injury problems. USC needs to go at least 3-1 over its final four SEC games to avoid the single-elimination first round of the SEC Tournament. If USC can complete a series sweep on Sunday, next weekend's series at Vanderbilt would determine the second-place team in the SEC East.  Barring a late slump, the Gamecocks appear to be in good shape to be one of the second group of eight regional hosts. They likely need a 5-0 finish to the regular season to have a reasonable chance of earning a national seed.

* Furman's two victories over Elon allowed the Paladins to keep pace with Wofford (a winner over UNC Greensboro) in the Southern Conference standings.  Both the Paladins and Terriers moved past UNCG by percentage points for seventh place. Catching Elon and/or Appalachian State could be a stretch, but both Furman and Wofford are in better shape than they were when they started the weekend.

* Coastal Carolina and Winthrop remained tied for first place in the Big South Conference South Division, but that's only because both lost again on Saturday to fall to 0-2 in their series against North Division champ Liberty and Charleston Southern, respectively.  Charleston Southern went through some midseason issues after a hot start, but now is showing a strong finishing kick to the regular season.

* College of Charleston lost to Colonial Athletic Association second-division team Hofstra, which could be costly to the Cougars' regular-season title hopes. The Cougars are 2 games behind first-place William & Mary, which is playing out of conference this weekend. Win or lose in the series finale at Hofstra, the Cougars  will have to sweep William & Mary when the teams close out CAA play with three games at at Patriots Point next weekend to take the regular-season gonfalon.

* It hasn't been a particularly memorable season for Presbyterian, but the Blue Hose's Saturday victory at nationally ranked Central Florida will be a moment the players and coaches will recall fondly. PC broke a 3-3 tie with three runs in the ninth inning.

* USC Upstate's prospects for escaping the cellar in the Atlantic Sun Conference suffered a punch to the gut in a 9-7 loss to Jacksonville. The Spartans committed two errors in the Dolphins' six-run ninth inning. Four of Jacksonville's runs in the outburst were unearned.

* A 4-0 deficit after a half inning of its Peach Belt Conference Tournament opener proved to be no problem for Lander. The top-seeded Bearcats hit six home runs - three by Connor Lewis - to dispatch eighth-seeded Francis Marion, 14-4, in Aiken. Lander can win the tournament championship with a pair of victories on Sunday. Even if they should lose, the Bearcats' body of work should be enough to earn them an at-large to the NCAA Division II playoffs.

* USC Aiken's chances of making the NCAA DII playoffs took a big hit with its first-round loss to Armstrong Atlantic. I don't know all the factors involved in the selection process, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Pacers are left out.

* The field of candidates to join Spartanburg Methodist, USC Sumter and ASA (of New York) in the NJCAA Eastern District Tournament next week has been trimmed to two. Potomac State (W. Va.) can win the Region 20 championship by beating host Harford (Md.) on Sunday. Harford must win twice Sunday to advance. The Eastern District champ goes to the junior college World Series in Grand Junction, Colo.