Logan Davidson became the first player in Clemson history to homer from each side of the plate in one game and the Tigers (41-13, 20-8) clinched at least a share of first place in the ACC Atlantic Division with a 16-6 win over Pittsburgh (27-23, 11-17) Thursday night in the opener of their series.
Patrick Cromwell also homered twice and doubled and Seth Beer had a home run among his four hits for Clemson, which wiped out an early 1-0 deficit with a six-run third inning.
Spencer Strider was solid in his first career ACC start, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out seven in five innings.
Clemson has a two-game lead over N.C. State (39-13, 18-10), which dropped its opener at Florida State, 4-3, on an 11th-inning home run. Should the Tigers and N.C. State tie, N.C. State has the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Clemson and North Carolina remain tied for the overall top seed with two games remaining.
Elsewhere:
* Wofford (34-20, 14-8) assured itself of no worse than the third seed for the Southern Conference Tournament with an 8-4 win over East Tennessee State (26-22, 10-12) to open their series at Russell C. King Field. Mack Nathanson broke a 1-1 tie with a three-run homer in the fifth inning. Colin Davis also homered for Wofford, while Alec Cargin and Max McDougal added two hits apiece. Terriers starter Adam Scott struck out nine as he pitched 7 1/3 innings. Wofford is a game behind second-place Samford.
* Winthrop (24-27, 15-10) moved into a third-place tie with Liberty (27-24, 15-10) in the Big South Conference standings with a 2-0 shutout of the Flames at Winthrop Ballpark. The Eagles scored both runs in the third innings on a steal of home and an RBI single by Tyler Halstead. Nate Pawelczyk and Jason Crumley pitched four innings apiece and Dalton Whitaker got the save by pitching the ninth.
Texas A&M (35-17, 13-15) scored a run in the sixth inning and two in the eighth for a 6-3 victory over South Carolina (30-22, 15-13) in the opener of their SEC series in College Station. The Aggies got a two-run homer in the first inning and a solo shot in the second for a 3-0 lead. The Gamecocks scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to tie the score. Carlos Cortes hit his team-leading 15th homer for USC, while Madison Stokes singled and homered and Noah Campbell added two singles. The Gamecocks are still in fifth place in the SEC overall standings and must win their final two games to have a chance at a first-round bye for the league tournament. USC is a game ahead of Auburn, LSU and Vanderbilt in the overall race.
* A hit batsman and a home run in the ninth inning gave UNC Wilmington a 6-5 Colonial Athletic Association win over College of Charleston (34-17, 14-8), dropping the Cougars into a three-way tie for second place with the Seahawks and Elon. Ari Sechopoulos homered and drove in three runs for the Cougars, who fell two games behind first-place Northeastern.
* The Citadel (18-33, 7-16) split a SoCon doubleheader at Mercer ( (35-19, 11-12), losing the first game, 6-3, before winning Game 2, 5-4. Jeffery Brown had four hits in the opener while Clay Martin singled and drove in three runs in the second game.
* High Point won the opener its its Big South Conference series with Presbyterian (15-37, 8-17). A.J. Priaulx and Jonathan White had two hits apiece for the Blue Hose, who are tied with UNC Asheville and Charleston Southern for the final seed in the Big South Conference Tournament with two games remaining.
* Charleston Southern (17-33, 8-17) got only a home from from Ryan Stoudemire in a 7-1 loss to UNC Asheville (8-17) to fall into a tie for the Bulldogs and PC for eighth place in the Big South.
* USC Upstate (23-28-1, 5-14) had its slim chances of qualifying for the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament in its final year as a member dashed by a 14-5 loss at Stetson (41-11, 15-3). Pat Raiff had three hits and a walk for the Spartans.
* Coastal Carolina's Sun Belt Conference game at Appalachian State was rained out and will be made up as part of a doubleheader at 3 p.m. Friday.
* The opener of Furman's SoCon home series with UNC Greensboro was canceled by rain. The teams opted to not reschedule it for either Friday or Saturday.
NJCAA Eastern District Tournament
* Leniel Gonzalez's three-run homer put USC Sumter (37-21) on the way to a 9-1 victory over ASA College Thursday in a first-round game of the NJCAA Eastern District Tournament in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. The game was halted after seven innings because of the run rule.
Blake Robinson allowed a first-inning run, but shut the Avengers out the rest of the way. He struck out 10 and allowed eight hits with no walks.
Gonzalez also doubled and walked. Austin Price doubled twice and singled and Vince Hanna singled and homered.
The Fire Ants advanced to a Friday game against host Monroe Community College, which beat Harford, 7-5, in the other first-round game.
NCAA Division II Southeast Regional
* Top-seeded North Greenville will play Columbus State at 3 p.m. Friday in its first game. The Crusaders (44-8) had a first-round bye in the seven-team, double-elimination event in Tigerville.
Columbus State (41-12) beat UNC Pembroke (38-14), 8-2, in the final game of Thursday's first round. Belmont Abbey (38-12) beat Wingate (34-18), 4-3, on a 10th-inning home run to open the event and seventh-seeded Lincoln Memorial (36-19) upended No. 2 Georgia College (43-11), 9-4, in earlier games.
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