* Coastal Carolina might crack the national rankings on Monday even though the Chanticleers had their 11-game winning streak snapped on Sunday by Winthrop, 3-0.
A midweek win over South Carolina improved coach Gary Gilmore's team (20-7) to 5-0 over ACC and SEC teams this season. Pollsters will take notice of that.
The Chanticleers coasted in the first two games behind 7-for-9 hitting by Michael Paezz.
The Chants and Radford share first place two weeks into Big South Conference play.
* Coastal's shutout loss came via a brilliant performance by Winthrop sophomore Matt Crohan. He allowed one hit and struck out 12 in in eight innings.
* College of Charleston needed some late heroics to complete a Colonial Athletic Association sweep of James Madison. The Cougars trailed 5-1 entering the ninth, then scored seven runs to go ahead by three. JMU pulled within a run before losing, 8-7.
Cougars No. 1 starter Taylor Clarke had another outstanding Friday outing, allowing one hit and striking out 10 in 6 2/3 innings of Friday's 12-0 victory.
* Clemson and South Carolina were in avoid-the-sweep mode for Sunday's finale of three-game conference home series against division foes, and both were able to do so.
The Tigers got a brilliant outing from starter Zack Erwin in a 6-2 victory over Wake Forest. He allowed one earned run over eight innings as Clemson returned to .500 (13-13) overall and remained six games behind Louisville (11-1) in the ACC Atlantic Division with a 5-7 conference mark.
Clemson had shown signs of escaping its offensive doldrums with double-figures scoring in two of its last three games entering the series. With the Wake Forest series starting a 10-game homestand, it seemed liked an opportunity for Clemson to build some momentum.
But the Tigers struggled to score in the first two games of the series. No. 1 starter Matthew Crownover was nursing a 1-0 lead until he ran into trouble in the sixth. No. 2 pitcher Brody Koerner got into trouble early in Game 2.
Meanwhile, the Tigers continued to have issues defensively. They made five errors in three games, leading to four unearned runs.
Clemson still has seven home games remaining before hitting the road again. The Tigers need a winning record on the homestand to begin building some type of resume if they have postseason aspirations.
South Carolina (19-9) has a better record than Clemson, but a case can be made that the Gamecocks are playing no better than the Tigers right now. Depending on how other ranked teams fared, USC should be in a ratings freefall for a second consecutive week.
The Gamecocks got 15 walks from Georgia pitchers in the series opener, but surrendered a lead late on a poor defensive play and wound up losing, 6-5, in extra innings. The Gamecocks continued to struggle to get hits with runners in scoring position. They fell behind early in Game 2 of the series and again failed to produce when needed. A two-out, two-run home run by Kyle Martin in the ninth made the final margin of 4-3.
It was Carolina's sixth loss in seven games, with five of the six losses by one run. All of the losses involved missed opportunities.
The Gamecocks struggled defensively in the first two games of the series.
USC fell behind 2-0 before an out was recorded in Sunday's finale, rallied for a 4-2 lead, then gave the lead back. Freshman catcher Hunter Taylor's first career home gave the Gamecocks a 5-4 lead and they pushed the margin to 8-4. Georgia got a run in the ninth and had the tying run at bat when the game ended.
The Gamecocks (5-4 SEC) remained two game behind first-place Vanderbilt, but play their next two conference series at Mississippi State and Florida respectively. If USC doesn't find a way to remedy its production issues, it could be out of the division title race before it plays another conference game at home.
* Like the Tigers and the Gamecocks, Furman went into Sunday trying to avoid being swept in a conference home series.
The Paladins also responded, getting a strong outing from freshman Grant Schuermann in an 8-4 win over Mercer. Schuermann, making his first weekend start, retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced.
* The Citadel was swept at Western Carolina to open SoCon play. The Bulldogs have lost five straight after a nine-game winning streak was snapped.
* USC Upstate and Lander both lost two of three in conference road series, but their victories came in memorable fashion on Saturday.
Upstate trailed 5-0, then scored two in the eighth and four in the ninth to top Kennesaw State, 6-5, in Atlantic Sun Conference action.
Back-to-back ninth-inning homers by Chris Hyatt and Colby Lusignan pushed the Bearcats past Francis Marion, 7-6, in Peach Belt Conference play after they had trailed 5-2.
* Claflin won two of three against Benedict to remain in first place in the SIAC East Division. Depending on your source, second-place Paine is either 7-3 (two games back) or 10-4 (one game back). Claflin's Darius Boykins pitched his seventh complete game of the season on Saturday.
* Newberry got a needed South Atlantic Conference road sweep of Wingate and USC Beaufort ended a recent skid in The Sun Conference play with a three-game sweep of Ave Maria.
* Erskine might tumble a few spots in the NCAA Division II national polls after a 2-3 week; the Flying Fleet were 25-2 entering the week. Erskine lost two of three at home to Conference Carolinas foe Pfeiffer and saw its lead over second-place Mount Olive trimmed to 1 1/2 games.
* Southern Wesleyan snapped a 13-game losing streak with its 4-2 win at North Greenville in the opener of a Saturday doubleheader. The Crusaders won the series, 2-1
* All four series in NJCAA Region 10 were 2-2 splits, so that was a slight victory for USC Sumter. How, you ask? Well, the Fire Ants entered the weekend with one-game leads over USC Lancaster and Spartanburg Methodist and left the weekend with the same margin. Florence-Darlington Tech and Pitt CC are two games out of first and sixth-place USC Salkehatchie is only four games back. There are three weekends (12 games) of region play remaining.
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