Wrapping up the weekend, May 3

* College of Charleston continued to roll along in Colonial Athletic Association play, sweeping three games at William & Mary.

Coach Monte Lee's Cougars are 35-9 this season, including 15-2 in CAA action. But, the College, which has won eight straight games, has been unable to shake UNC Wilmington, its closest rival both on the map and in the standings.

The Seahawks are 14-3 and have won their last four CAA games.

The CAA championship could be decided when the schools meet for three games at Patriots Point next weekend.

Charleston will be a formidable foe for UNCW.  Friday night starter Taylor Clark has been brilliant (1-1, 1.58 ERA, 107 strikeouts in 85 1/3 innings.

The Cougars are batting .316 as a team and eight regulars are hitting .308 or better.

* Clemson got a much, much needed win with its 9-1 win over No. 3 Louisville in its  ACC series opener on Saturday. The Tigers were unable clinch the series on Sunday night, with the Cardinals breaking a 1-1 tie late and holding on for a 5-3 victory.

No. 1 starter Matthew Crownover had another superb outing on. He has a 1.22 earned-run average and would been better than 8-1 with a little more offensive and defensive support. A three-run first inning gave Crownover plenty of breathing room.

Clemson starter Zach Erwin pitched out of several jams on Sunday before Louisville scored three runs in the seventh on a pair of homers. The Cardinals had 11 hits against Erwin, but left eight runners on base over the first five innings.
 A series win is still in the offing on Monday. The Tigers (24-22) are almost certainly on the outside looking in when it comes to NCAA Tournament considering.  But a series win over  Louisville, a win over highly regarded College of Charleston, a series win over Florida State and a good showing in the ACC Tournament might give the Selection Committee reason to take a second look at the Tigers.

* Wofford won two of three at UNC Greensboro over the weekend, briefly moving into second place in the SoCon standings before settling back to third by losing Sunday's game.

* Furman won two of three against East Tennessee State, reaching .500 in Southern Conference play and edging closer to the same in its overall record. The Paladins' Chris Ohmstede had a four-game home-run streak  snapped when he went 0-for-4 in Sunday's 7-3 loss.  The Paladins and Terriers play next weekend in Spartanburg.

* The Citadel also won two of three against Samford over then weekend, missing a sweep with an extra-inning loss on Sunday,.

* Coastal Carolina lost two of three at Florida State, but the experience should help coach Gary Gilmore's team if it makes it to the NCAA Tournament.

The Chanticleers face a big test to their Big South Conference title hopes next weekend. They play host to Liberty, which shares first place with Coastal and Radford.

In a rarity for this late in the season, there was only one Big South series played this weekend, and involved two of the bottom five teams in the standings.

The Big South's Charleston Southern and Winthrop were among three S.C. Division I teams having the weekend off. USC Upstate was the other.

* After two more woeful offensive performances by South Carolina in losing two of three to Auburn, I don't think coach Chad Holbrook can go into next season without some changes to his coaching staff.

Elliott Caldwell, Kyle Martin and Max Schrock, the only USC hitters batting about .258, have 42 percent of the Gamecocks' hits this season. Take away those three players and already anemic .250 batting average drops to .212.

It should be noted that Caldwell and Martin are seniors and Schrock, while injury-prone, is a junior and could be a selection in the June MLB draft.

The offensive woes wouldn't be as bad if the Gamecocks were getting pitching and defense like they did in past seasons. But they're not.

Holbrook rolled the dice by starting closer Taylor Widener in the middle game with Auburn. Widener, a candidate for the weekend rotation entering the season, hadn't been getting much work because the Gamecocks haven't had many leads to protect.

Widener turned in a fine performance until he tired, leaving in the sixth inning with a 2-0 lead. The Gamecocks' bullpen - with the help of some poor defense -- frittered the lead away and a 6-2 loss was the result.

USC was punchless on Sunday, getting shut out on three singles.

USC is 10-14 in the SEC with six conference games -- three with national No. 1 LSU, three with No. 3/4/5 (depending on the poll) Texas A&M -- remaining. Given the paucity of offense, it''s a real possibility the Gamecocks could finish 10-20 in conference play.  While 12 of 14 SEC teams qualify for the SEC Tournament, 10 wins might not be enough to sneak the Gamecocks in.

One bright spot for the Gamecocks has been Friday starter Jack Wynkoop, who turned in another stellar performance in the series opener.

* Presbyterian was swept in a three-game series at Georgia Tech. The Blue Hose's best chance for a win came in Game 2 of the Saturday doubleheader. PC took a 9-5 lead to the bottom of the eighth, only to have the Yellow Jackets score six runs to win, 11-9.

* Erskine won a pair of  games with South Atlantic Conference Tournament champion Wingate, but the Flying Fleet are almost certainly going to be by-passes when NCAA Division II Southeast Regional bids go out. A 35-16 season is certainly something to be proud of, but Erskine looked in prime position for the position when it had a 25-2 record and was ranked as high as No. 2 nationally earlier this season.

* USC Aiken lost a pair of non-conference games to Catawba. A sweep likely would have bolstered the Pacers' chances of getting an at-large bid to the DII playoffs. Now, they likely need to win the Peach Belt Conference Tournament next weekend to reach the postseason.

* The NJCAA Region 10 race was tight all year and the first two days of the championship tournament in Burlington, N.C., has been just as entertaining.

Top-seeded USC Sumter suffered a 1-0 loss to last-place Guilford Tech in its first game, but kept its title hopes alive by eliminating traditional power Spartanburg Methodist in the second round.  USC Lancaster was in contention for the regular-season title for much of the year before finishing in fourth place. Coach Steve Williams' Lancers followed up a first-round win over SMC with a victory over Guilford on Sunday.  Next up for Lancaster is Pitt CC, the other remaining unbeaten in the tournament. Pitt got to the matchup of unbeatens with a 7-6 win over Florence-Darlington Tech.