* South Carolina stayed in the picture for a national seed with a tough 2-1 win over Missouri to sweep the Tigers., Mizzou pitcher Keaton Steele dropped to 0-8, but looked like anything but a winless pitcher as he stifled the Gamecocks most of the day. USC also stayed in contention for one of the top four records in SEC play. The top four teams earn a first-round bye for the league tournament. USC, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State are tied for the third and fourth spots with 16-11. The Gamecocks likely need to win at least two games at Vanderbilt to close the regular season to be in good shape for a top four spot and, perhaps, move past the Commodores in the pecking order for a national seed. LSU and Alabama are lurking close behind the Gamecocks in the bid for an SEC Tournament bye. The other pertinent pairings for the final weekend: Mississippi State at Alabama and LSU at Auburn. In addition, a bad series at Texas A&M could drop Mississippi out of the West title picture and into the battle for a first-round bye.
* If Clemson should fail to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers may look back on this weekend with regret. An 11-3 loss to Notre Dame on Sunday meant the Tigers dropped an ACC series to the team with the worst record in the league. The Fighting Irish were 4-20 against ACC competition entering the weekend. The Tigers also fell a half-game behind Maryland into third place in the ACC Atlantic Division standings. Clemson needs to win at least two games against Boston College at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in their final league series to move back ahead of the Terrapins. At 31-21, Clemson probably needs to win its final four regular-season games and a couple in the ACC Tournament to make a case for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. I'm not sure even that would be enough.
* Charleston Southern wrapped up a three-game sweep of Winthrop to assure itself of its first winning season under coach Stuart Lake and the school's first winning season since 1996 - the last time the Buccaneers went to the NCAA Tournament. The Buccaneers also pulled within a half-game of Winthrop and Coastal Carolina in the race for the Big South Conference's South Division title. Coastal Carolina left North Division champ Liberty with three losses to stay in a tie with Winthrop. The regular season ends next weekend with CSU visiting VMI, Winthrop hosting Longwood and Coastal entertaining Campbell.
* College of Charleston wrapped up one of two first-round byes for the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament with its 2-1 victory over Hofstra. The Cougars can pass William & Mary and win the regular-season championship with a sweep of the Tribe at Patriots Point to conclude the regular season.
* Furman and Wofford completed SoCon series sweeps of Elon and UNC Greensboro, respectively, to move into a three-way tie (with Appalachian State) for sixth place with one weekend remaining. All three teams have the potential to move past Elon into fifth place with a good closing rush.
* Lander, ranked No. 2 nationally in most NCAA Division II rankings, added a Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship to its PBC regular-season crown with wins over Georgia College and Montevallo on Sunday. Later Sunday, the Bearcats (47-6) were awarded host status for the Southeast Regional. Others in the six-team field are Catawba (33-18), Mount Olive (40-11), Georgia College (34-15), Columbus State (36-15) and USC Aiken (36-15). I thought the Pacers might have been knocked from consideration with a first-round loss in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament. All three at-large teams were from the Peach Belt, with Conference Carolinas and the South Atlantic Conference sending their tournament champs only. Erskine of Conference Carolinas and Wingate of the SAC were bypassed despite having 34-17 records.
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