* College of Charleston entered the weekend nursing a one-game lead in the Colonial Athletic Association standings and left it celebrating a second straight regular-season title.
Coach Monte Lee's Cougars swept second-place UNC Wilmington in the three-game series at Patriots Point.
The College spotted UNC Wilmington three unearned runs in the top of the first before roaring back to win the opener, 13-4. Ace pitcher Taylor Clarke became the school's single-seasons strikeout leader by fanning 10 in 7 1/3 innings.
The Seahawks twice rallied from two runs down to tie the score before Alex Pastorius' seventh-inning homer gave CofC a 5-4 win on Saturday.
UNCW took a 2-0 lead in the first and a 5-3 lead in the second before CofC roared back for a 11-7 win in Sunday's finale.
The Cougars have cracked the top 20 in most of the major polls. I'm not sure if the midweek loss to Clemson will be enough to cost them a spot or two. I'm guessing no.
* OK. Show of hands: How many of you expected South Carolina to score 31 runs and win two of three games at No. 2/3 Texas A&M?
Yeah. Right.
The Gamecocks' offense has been moribund almost all season. They had scored eight runs in just four of their first 24 SEC games. USC scored 8, 14 and 9 against the Aggies.
The amazing thing is the Gamecocks put up season-high numbers in hits (21) and runs (14) in Saturday's game -- and lost because of a bullpen meltdown.
USC hit .350 for the weekend after entering the series with a .251 season mark.
The good weekend, coupled with losses by Tennessee and Mississippi State, allowed the Gamecocks to clinch a berth in the SEC Tournament. Merely getting to the tournament is not what USC was shooting for at the beginning of the season.
So, where does this leave the Gamecocks? Are the offensive woes in the past, or was this weekend an anomaly?
I'm convinced there's no chance USC gets into the NCAA Tournament unless it wins the SEC Tournament. I don't think even a sweep of LSU to end the weekend would be enough to earn an at-large bid.
A sweep of LSU would allow the Gamecocks to avoid their first losing record in SEC play since 1997.
The Gamecocks can't avoid the single-elimination round of the SEC Tournament, so they'll be playing on Tuesday, May 19.
* Clemson won two of three against a solid Georgia Southern team, but the way the Tigers lost Sunday in the regular-season home finale won't leave their fans in a celebratory mood.
Relief pitching, defensive breakdowns, inconsistent hitting and baserunning mistakes have burned the Tigers much of the season, and that was the case again Sunday.
Clemson had leads of 2-0 and 3-2 before falling behind 4-3 in the seventh.The Tigers got a runner on in the eighth, but he was picked off first base to end the inning.
Georgia Southern's leadoff batter in the ninth reached on a wild pitch on strike three. He later scored on a three-run homer to give the Eagles a 7-3 lead. Clemson could answer with just one run in the bottom of the inning and fell to 27-25 on the season.
How bad are things going for the Tigers. They played a non-conference series and fell from third place in fifth place in the ACC Atlantic Division behind Notre Dame and N.C. State.
A midweek game vs. Furman in Greenville will be followed by a three-game series at Florida State, then likely three pool games in the ACC Tournament. The Tigers haven't had a losing season since 1957, the year before Bill Wilhelm took over.
Avoiding a losing season won't be easy this year.
So, where does that leave coach Jack Leggett, who has come under increasing criticism from fans?
I'm guessing only a College World Series championship might save Leggett's job ... and if he were to do that, why not retire, leave on top and thumb his nose at the critics?
A couple of wide-angle shots of Doug Kingsmore Stadium on the Internet video feed Sunday suggested the number of fans in attendance was well below the 3,689 announced.
I talked to someone not affiliated with the program, but with a background in athletics and coaching. He attended a recent game and was close enough to hear and see interaction among the players. He said that what he saw and heard suggested some of the players have already given up.
I report that not trying to incite more discontent, only to suggest that it's going to take a lot of work for Leggett to salvage something out of the rest of the season.
It is a sad situation that for all the success Clemson has had under Leggett, his legacy will suffer -- at least short-term -- because of the struggles of the past few seasons.
* The Citadel's three-game sweep of East Tennessee State allowed them to escape the Southern Conference cellar and move into position to escape the single-elimination 8-9 play-in game of the league tournament.
The Bulldogs' only path out of eighth place appears to be a sweep its three-game series at Furman. They would lose head-to-head tiebreakers with VMI and Western Carolina if they were to finish tied with those teams.
* Wofford won two of three over Furman to tighten its grip on third place in the SoCon. The Terriers were close to moving into second place before Samford staged an eighth-inning rally to beat Western Carolina. Wofford has a 35-18 record, and each win adds to the school record for victories as a DI school.
* Coastal Carolina entered the weekend tied for first place with Radford and Liberty in the Big South standings. The Chanticleers and Liberty split two games while Radford was sweeping Charleston Southern.
Sunday's Liberty-Coastal game was rained out. Conferences like the ACC and SEC don't allow finales of conference series to be rescheduled. Apparently the Big South does, because the teams will try to play at 1 p.m. Monday in Conway.
Radford is 17-4 in the Big South, with Liberty and Conway both 15-5. The regular season ends next weekend (Thursday-Saturday). Liberty appears to have the toughest road to first place, facing High Point (12-9). Coastal Carolina plays Campbell (10-11), while Radford has UNC Asheville (5-16).
* Winthrop's three-game sweep of Presbyterian allowed the Eagles to take sole possession of fourth place in the Big South at 13-8. Climbing higher will take some a series win at Longwood (9-12) and some help. The Liberty/Coastal Carolina loser would fall to 15-6, still two games ahead of Winthrop entering next weekend.
* Presbyterian, meanwhile, is still looking for a school-record 25th win as an NCAA Division I program. A non-conference game at The Citadel and a three-game series at Charleston Southern give coach Elton Pollock's squad four chances to make history.
* North Greenville learned it will play host Catawba in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament's Southeast Regional beginning Thursday. The tournament will be played at Finch Field in Thomasville, N.C., instead of Catawba's home field in Salisbury.
Coach Landon Powell's Crusaders are the sixth seed in the six-team double-elimination event, but that should bother them. They were the sixth seed in the Conference Carolinas Tournament, but went unbeatean to earn the school's first DII playoff bid in baseball.
Mount Olive plays Wingate and North Georgia meets Georgia College in the other two first-round games. Georgia College qualified by winnings the Peach Belt Conference Tournament as the eighth seed.
Did Georgia College's surge bump Newberry or Erskine out of a possible at-large spot? I'm guessing no. Armstrong State, Flagler and UNC Pembroke were more highly ranked.
* USC Lancaster and USC Sumter learned they'll be headed to the New York City area for the NCJAA Eastern District Tournament later this month. Monroe CC won the Region 15 tournament and the right to host a rotation of regions involved. Completing the four-team field as Potomac State, champion of Region 20.
Monroe played its home games at City Park in New Rochelle, but I'm note sure of the Eastern District Tournament will be played at that site. The District champion goes to the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Colo.
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