Thursday, May 24, 2018

Wednesday's tournament roundup, May 23

ACC, Durham N.C.
* Logan Davidson homered from both sides of the plate during Clemson's tournament-record 17-run fourth inning in Wednesday's 21-4 rout of Notre Dame (24-30) in Durham. The game was called after seven innings because of the score.

Clemson (44-13) trailed 3-1 entering the uprising, the program's third-biggest single-inning total behind a 19-run inning vs. Maryland in 1998 and an 18-run inning vs. N.C. State in 1979. The Tigers sent 21 batters to the plate, getting 11 of their 17 hits and six walks.

Davidson also doubled and finished the day with seven RBIs. Earlier this month, Davidson became the first Tiger to homer from both sides in the plate in the same game.

Seth Beer and Chris Williams also homered as part of three-hit days and Kyle Wilkie had three hits as he extended his hitting streak to 23 games.

The win means Clemson's Thursday night game with Miami will determine the Pool B winner and a berth in the tournament semifinals on Saturday.

* In other games, Louisville clubbed Wake Forest, 10-2 and Pittsburgh became the first team to clinch a semifinal spot with a 5-4 victory over top-seeded North Carolina. The Tar Heels cannot qualify for the championship round even though they have another game to play.

A Sun, Jacksonville, Fla.
* Stetson beat New Jersey Tech, 7-2, Jacksonville beat Lipscomb, 9-6 and North Florida dumpened Kennesaw State, 7-1.

Big South, Lynchburg, Va.
* Winthrop  (25-30) stayed alive by beating Longwood, 7-4, in its second game of the day. The Eagles scored five runs in the fourth, then scored a pair of insurance runs in the eighth after Longwood had cut the score to 5-4.

Hunter Lipscomb had three hits, including a double, and drove in two runs for the Eagles, who play again Thursday night against an opponent to be determined by an earlier game.

Earlier, Winthrop lost to Gardner-Webb, 7-5. Mitch Spires singled, homered and drove in two runs for the Eagles.

* Also, Charleston Southern (19-35) was eliminated by Liberty, 4-2. Mike Sconzo had two doubles for the Buccaneers

* High Point moved to 2-0 in the tournament with a 6-3 win over Radford.

Colonial Athletic Association, Harrisonburg, Va.
* Logan McRae hit his 25th career home run and College of Charleston (36-17) won its tournament opener over Hofstra (23-22), 10-3. Luke Morgan, Ari Sechopoulos and Danny Wondrack also homered for the Cougars, who will play second-seeded Elon on Thursday.

*  In other games, UNC Wilmington beat Delaware, 2-1 and, later, Delaware stayed alive with a 3-1 win over Hofstra.

SEC, Hoover, Ala.
Arkansas scored in the first four innings and outlasted South Carolina (33-23), 13-8 to knock the Gamecocks into a losers' bracket game against LSU about 2 p.m. Thursday.

USC starter Logan Chapman struck out the first two batters he faced, but walked the next two and allowed a three-run homer.

Down 10-1 after five innings, USC coach Mark Kingston began inserting reserves. With a grand slam by L.T. Tolbert the big hit, Carolina scored five runs in the sixth to cut the score to 10-6. Arkansas pushed the lead back to 13-6. The Gamecocks had the potential tying run on deck in the ninth inning before a game-ending double play.

Tolbert had four hits and drove in five runs for USC, while Jacob Olson and Madison Stokes added two apiece.

* No. 11 seed Texas A&M beat a higher-seeded team for the second straight day, shutting out No. 3 Georgia, 7-0. Auburn upended second-seeded Mississippi, 9-3, and Florida beat LSU, 4-3.

SoCon, Greenville, S.C.
* East Tennessee State rallied from a five-run deficit to force extra innings, but Wofford (36-21) scored an unearned run in the 10th to win, 8-7, and advance to a Thursday night game against Samford.

Terriers starter Adam Scott struck out 13 batters in seven innings and Wofford led 7-2 before the Buccaneers began their comeback. A pair of wild pitches helped ETSU tie the score in the ninth. In the 10th, McClain Bradley reached on a two-out error. Andrew Orzel followed with a double to the base of the wall in left-center field to score Bradley.

Bradley had three hits, including a homer, and Orzel also homered for Wofford. Colin Davis also had three of the Terriers' 16 hits.

* Furman (24-27) got a solid start from Grant Schuermann, but freshman left-hander Samuel Strickland of Samford was even better and the Bulldogs won, 4-0. The Paladins' failure to turn a double play kept the Samford first inning alive and the Bulldogs pushed across a run.

The score stayed 1-0 until the eighth, with the Bulldogs drove Schuermann from the game and scored three runs.  Strickland allowed two hits and struck out 10 in six innings. Wyatt Burns allowed two hits and struck out two in three innings as he got his 11th save.

Schuermann scattered six hits over the first seven innings.

The Paladins play at 12:30 p.m. Thursday against East Tennessee State.

* Also, No. 9 seed Western Carolina (9-45) pounded regular-season champion UNC Greensboro, 10-2, and Mercer hammered VMI, 19-0, in a game stopped after seven innings.

Sun Belt, Lafayette, La.
* Seth Lancaster hit his 17th home run of the season and Zach Biermann and Kesaton Weisz also connected as Coastal Carolina (39-17) hammered Texas Arlington, 12-2, in a game halted after in the eighth inning because of the run rule.

The Chanticleers won going away, scoring four runs in the sixth inning four in the seventh and two in the eighth to move into a second-round game Thursday against South Alabama.

* In other games, South Alabama beat Georgia Southern, 5-3 and Troy beat Texas State, 5-1. The day's final game, Louisiana and Little Rock, was suspended by weather until Thursday. The Ragin' Cajuns were leading, 8-7, in the fourth inning.






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