Sunday, February 24, 2019

Wrapping up the weekend, Feb. 24

The rain across much of South Carolina this past week caused so many postponements, cancellations, date changes and time changes that I didn't even try to compile the total of games affected. So, let's stick to the on-field action.

Clemson and South Carolina tuned up for their rivalry series next weekend by sweeping VMI and Utah Valley, respectively. Neither opponent was a world-beater, but both the Tigers and Gamecocks  weren't able to win by just showing up.

* Clemson (6-1) hit just .247 for the weekend, but that improved its season average to .237.  The Tigers' six-run sixth-inning rally to wipe out a 3-0 deficit on Sunday included three hit batsmen, two walks and three hits.

Freshman Davis Sharpe had a second straight brilliant start, striking out 11, walking two and allowing one hit in six shutout innings.

* South Carolina (6-1) had a pair of routs sandwiched around its come-from-behind 6-5 win on Saturday. The Gamecocks frittered away a 4-0 lead and fell behind 5-4 before Noah Campbell's two-out, two-run homer on a 2-2 count ended it in the ninth. Gamecocks closer Sawyer Bridges struggled to close out a game for the second time this season.

Carolina hit 10 homers for the weekend, with Campbell and Chris Cullen belting two apiece.  Reid Morgan struck out nine in eight innings on Sunday.

* Coastal Carolina (7-1) had its seven-game winning streak to open the season snapped with an 11-inning 7-6 loss to N.C. State on Sunday in a meeting of ranked teams. The Chanticleers had leads of 4-0 and 6-2 before the Wolfpack tied the score in the sixth and won the game on a home run.

* Winthrop evened its record at 3-3 with a doubleheader sweep of George Mason on Sunday.

* College of Charleston (6-1) got a series win over UConn that should look good on the Cougars' resume.

* Wofford (3-2) got the state's final victory of the weekend, a walk-off 10-9 win over Radford in 10 innings around 9:25 Sunday night.

* Southern Wesleyan (7-4) stretched its winning streak to six with an eight-run ninth-inning rally to beat Emmanuel, 16-15, Sunday night. The Warriors fell behind 10-2 before their comeback. Sawyer Price's three-run double ended it. Seven of the runs in the ninth were unearned.

* Newberry (11-4) opened South Atlantic Conference play with a three-game sweep of Lenoir-Rhyne.

* Lander (8-7) got a weekend sweep of Peach Belt Conference foe UNC Pembroke and USC Aiken (10-4) took a PBC series at Francis Marion (9-5).

* North Greenville (8-4) opened Conference Carolinas play with a 2-1 series win over Barton.

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