Saturday, April 8, 2017

Saturday's highlights, April 8

I've been doing wrapups of all state games for several weekends now and it has had negligible impact on traffic on this site. I'm going to cut back to doing info from select games. I'll make some mention of every state team that wins as well as some mention of noteworthy events in losses. I reserve the right to drop the wrapup altogether.

Game of the day
Coastal Carolina 9, Louisiana Lafayette 8
Cory Wood's two-run single in the ninth capped a four-run rally that gave the Chanticleers (20-11, 8-3) a come-from-behind win over Louisiana Lafayette (18-13, 7-4) to even the Sun Belt Conference series at one win apiece.

The Ragin' Cajuns took leads of 2-0 and 5-3 before the Chanticleers tied the score in the fifth. Lafayette scored a run in the eighth and two in the ninth to go up 8-5.

Dalton Ewing cut the deficit to 8-7 with a two-run homer. Seth Lancaster singled and  stole second, Matt Beaird reached on a dropped third strike and Billy Cooke walked to set the stage for Wood's heroics.

The series finale starts at 11 a.m. Sunday in Conway.

Elsewhere across the state:
* Adam Hill struck out 11 over six no-hit innings in South Carolina's (21-10, 7-5) 6-1 victory over Vanderbilt (21-11, 6-6) to salvage the finale of a Southeastern Conference series. Hill struggled with his control, walking five and throwing 110 pitches before leaving after walking the first batter of the seventh. L.T. Tolbert had a three-run home run for the Gamecocks. T.J. Hopkins and Carlos Cortes added two hits apiece and Alex Destino drove in two runs.

* Clemson (27-5, 11-2) remained alone atop the ACC Atlantic Division standings with a 6-3 win over Virginia Tech (17-17, 6-8) to clinch a series victory. Reed Rohlman doubled twice and homered and Seth Beer singled and homered for the Tigers. Alex Eubanks (5-2) struck out seven in seven innings.

* Presbyterian (17-16, 5-3) used a five-run 10th inning to clinch a Big South series win at Winthrop  (16-15, 5-3) with a 9-5 victory. Colton Chapman and Brett Auckland had two RBIs apiece in the 10th. Hunter Lipscomb singled and homered for the Eagles.

* Dupree Hart broke a tie game with a two-run triple in the eighth and College of Charleston (15-16, 7-2) evened its CAA series with James Madison (17-12, 3-5) with an 8-4 victory.

* Aaron Miller homered twice and drove in eight runs as Charleston Southern (16-13, 5-6) demolished UNC Asheville (12-18, 3-5) by a 19-3 to clinch a Big South Conference series win. Miller and Alex Andronica hit grand slams for the Buccaneers.

* Newberry (28-14, 13-5) extended its winning streak to 11 games by beating Coker (19-17, 9-12) by scores of 14-4 and 7-0. Derek Olenchuck had three of the Wolves' 11 hits and Jeff Sneed drove in four runs in the opener. Tristan Smaltz pitched five shutout innings in Game 2.

* USC Lancaster (32-11, 7-3) moved into first place in NJCAA Region 10 with a doubleheader sweep of USC Salkehatchie (18-23, 4-6), 13-3 in five innings and 4-2 on a walk-off home run in Game 2. Spartanburg Methodist (23-16, 5-3) moved into second place by beating Florence-Darlington Tech (27-13, 6-4) by scores of 5-2 and 4-1. Louisburg (20-17, 3-5) won by scores of 13-3 and 7-5 over USC Sumter (21-18, 3-7).

* USC Aiken (26-10, 11-6) pounded out 18 hits in an 18-1 win over Augusta (15-19, 7-10) to clinch a series victory in the Peach Belt Conference rivalry. Jose Bonilla, Mitchell Price and Zach Moon had three hits apiece for the Pacers, who scored in every inning. Starting pitcher Connor Riley struck out 11 in seven innings.

* A bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the 11th inning gave UNC Greensboro (20-10, 6-2) a 7-6 victory over Furman (11-18, 1-7) and extended the Paladins' losing streak to seven games. The Paladins, who have dropped 10 of their last 11, took a 6-5 lead in the top of the 11th when Carter Grote scored on a wild pitch, but Ryne Sigmon tied the score with a leadoff home run. Two singles and a hit batsman loaded the bases to set the stage for the walk-off fly out. Jabari Richards had three hits for Furman, which has lost its last five SoCon games by a total of seven runs.

* North Greenville (29-12, 13-7) moved past Erskine into third place in the Conference Carolinas standings by splitting a twinbill at King (16-20-1, 7-13). The Crusaders won the opener, 9-2, but missed a chance to move into second place by allowing two runs in the bottom of the seventh in a 3-2 loss in Game 2. Clark Scolamiero had three hits in Game 1.

* James Roman struck out 10 in a seven-inning complete game as Benedict (18-9, 8-3) beat Clark Atlanta (12-17, 6-5) in the opener of an SIAC doubleheader before the host Panthers won Game 2, 5-4, by scoring in the bottom of the eighth. Roman allowed four hits and one earned run. David White had two hits for the Tigers in Game 2.

* Anderson (12-27, 8-13) got a South Atlantic Conference series win at Brevard (10-29, 3-15) by winning Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader, 19-3, after dropping the opener, 4-1. Tyler Miller had four hits and Michael Rochester added three in the victory.

* Chase Allen doubled in two runs to cap a five-run fifth and Limestone (20-19, 9-12) held on for a 5-3 win over Belmont Abbey (25-15, 16-8) to open a Conference Carolinas doubleheader. The host Crusaders rolled to a 17-5 in Game 2 despite home runs by Allen and Zach Piazza.

* Barton (25-16, 10-11) completed a surprising Conference Carolinas series sweep of Erskine (24-15, 13-8), beating the Flying Fleet 2-1 and 14-8. Chase Watts was five-for-eight for Erskine.

* USC Beaufort (25-14, 10-8 was swept in a Sun Conference doubleheader by No. 15 Webber International (31-9, 12-6). The Sand Sharks fell in the opener 10-4, and lost the nightcap, 5-4, in 11 innings. Bobby Wenthe homered in each game to set a USCB single-season home run record with nine.

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