After another disastrous weekend in conference player, the realization to hit even the most optimistic Clemson and South Carolina supporters:
Neither team is going to the NCAA Tournament this year unless it wins its conference tournament ... or buys a ticket.
* Clemson dropped two of three at Georgia Tech, losing the lead in Tech's final at-bats in both losses. The Tigers fell to 23-21 overall and 12-11 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Tigers got nothing out of another fine start by Matthew
Crownover. His teammates managed just five hits in Friday's 4-2 loss.
After a good offensive showing in Saturday's 11-3 win, the Tigers didn't make enough of their 10 hits count on Sunday. Clemson took momentum in the fifth on homers by Weston Wilson and Steven Duggar, then gave it back by allow the tying run in the bottom of the inning..
Clemson took a 4-3 lead in the 10th, but Tech staged a two-out rally to win in the bottom of the inning.
The Tigers continued to struggle defensively, making an error in each game. Fortunately, only one unearned run came as a result.
Clemson has made at least one error in its last 10 games and has had only eight errorless games in its first 44. Successful teams don't have numbers like that.
With seven of their final 12 games against ranked teams and a track record of losing to unranked teams as well, there's a real possibility the Tigers could finish .500 or worse in the regular season.
Clemson's last .500 season (13-13) was in 1964; its last losing season (6-12) was in 1957, the year before Bill Wilhelm took over.
Given the pressure put on Clemson coach Jack Leggett by athletic director Dan Radakovich's public recommendations for the program last summer, I'm not sure anything short of going unbeaten through to a National Championship is going to be enough to save Leggett's job.
Could Leggett buy another season by replacing an assistant or two? My guess is we won't get a chance to find out.
* If there's any consolation for Clemson fans, it's that South Carolina fans are just as miserable right now.
The Gamecocks dropped two of three to SEC cellar-dwellar Tennessee and continued their offensive impotence.
USC scored just 11 runs in the three games, with seven of those 11 runs coming in the first or second innings.
It's become apparent that most of USC's lineup either isn't talented enough or isn't experienced enough to succeed against SEC pitching.
Take away Elliott Caldwell, Kyle Martin and Max Schrock and USC has a .216 team batting average.
Let that sink in for a second.
Caldwell and Martin are seniors. Schrock, who missed the last two games in Knoxville because of an injury, is a junior and a likely selection in the MLB Draft. And Martin, Caldwell and Schock aren't infallible. All three struck out in the ninth inning of a 2-1 midweek loss to Furman after the leadoff batter had reached second base.
None of the position players USC has brought in the past two seasons has shown the ability to be an consistent offensive weapon.
As bad as the offense has been this season, it could be worse next year.
And it's not just the offense.
The Gamecocks never were able to settle on third weekend starter, and the loss to Wil Crowe to an injury left Jack Wynkoop as the only SEC-caliber starter. Throw in an inconsistent bullpen and a sub-par defense - although USC did play errorless ball at Knoxville - and you've got a recipe for mediocrity.
At 26-19, the "mediocre" mantle fits USC to a T. With nationally ranked LSU and Texas A&M and a surging Auburn team remaining, it's almost certain the Gamecocks will finish with a losing record in SEC play. If they don't right the ship soon, they might miss the SEC Tournament. The only positive out of that is it would save the Gamecocks the embarrassment of another unsuccessful cameo in Hoover.
As USC's season has crumbled, the message board criticism of third-year coach Chad Holbrook has mounted. With the Gamecocks' woeful offense, Holbrook may forced to shake up the coaching staff to bring in a hitting coach who can get USC back up to SEC snuff.
* College of Charleston rolled along, sweeping Furman to wrap up a 5-0 week that also included a win over Coastal Carolina. The Cougars returned to first place in the Colonial Athletic Association after UNC Wilmington lost two of three to Elon over the weekend.
* Furman couldn't build on the momentum of its midweek win over USC. The Paladins twice took a 2-0 lead over College of Charleston after a half-inning, but couldn't hold the lead either time.
* Coastal Carolina bounced back from its loss to College of Charleston with a sweep of Presbyterian to move into a three-way tie for Big South Conference lead with Liberty and Radford.
* Winthrop's weekend sweep of Charleston Southern pushed the Eagles' winning streak to 10 games and moved the Eagles into a tie for fourth place in the Big South standings.
* Wofford's 2-1 series win over first-place Samford pulled the Terriers within 1 1/2 games of the lead with three weekends remaining in the season.
* Both Erskine and Newberry saw their best chances of making the NCAA Division II playoffs dashed when they were eliminated from their conference tournaments.
Erskine, which led Conference Carolinas for much of the season before a second-half slide, got an opening when regular-season champ Mount Olive went two-and-out. After winning their tournament opener, the Flying Fleet also lost two games.
Newberry used a strong finish to take second in the South Atlantic Conference, but the Wolves also stumbled after the first round.
The relatively early tournament exits could tarnish both resumes when at-large bids go out next month.
* Benedict and Claflin, which finished 1-2 in the SIAC East Division, couldn't take advantage of the league tournament being played in Columbia. Both won their opener, then dropped two straight.
* First-year coach Landon Powell has North Greenville one win away from the Conference Carolinas championship and a spot in the DII playoffs. The Crusaders 28-23 record is pedestrian, but a far cry from the 8-35 mark of a season ago. They got a late two-run single from Andrew Locklear to knock off Pfeiffer, 2-1, on Sunday. NGU plays Pfeiffer again at noon Monday in Burlington, N.C. If Pfeiffer wins, the teams would play again 45 minutes after the first game ends.
* USC Aiken won two of three against Flagler, with T.J. Costen delivering game-winning hits in the last at-bat of both victories.
NJCAA Region 10 teams took a weekend off from league play to prepare for the league tournament next weekend in Burlington, N.C. Unofficial first-round pairings are: regular-season champ USC Sumter vs. Guilford Tech, Pitt CC vs. Louisburg, Florence-Darlington Tech vs. USC Salkehatchie and USC Lancaster vs. Spartanburg Methodist.
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