Wrapping up the weekend in S.C. college baseball, March 17

Jake Wright (Coastal Carolina photo)

Before long, someone at Coastal Carolina may be telling Chanticleers outfielder Parker Chavers he's the next Wally Pipp.

Pipp, for you whippersnappers, was a first baseman for the New York Yankees in the 1920s. The legend is he begged out of the lineup one day because of a headache. The Yankees turned to the backup, Lou Gehrig, and the rest is history. Gehrig didn't miss a game for more than a decade and fashioned a Hall of Fame career.

So, who would be the Gehrig of this scenario? That would be Jake Wright. The sophomore from Chester entered the lineup because of an injury to Chavers a week ago and is making a strong argument for coach Gary Gilmore to find a spot for him in the lineup once Chavers is healthy.  Chavers was hitting .389 at the time he was sidelined by a freak injury in the dugout in Seattle.

Wright went 9-for-14 (.643) with 4 walks, 2 homers, 6 runs scored and 13 RBIs this week as the Chanticleers went 3-1. He was 4-for-5 with a double, a homer, 3 runs scored and 6 RBIs on Sunday to help Coastal complete a Sun Belt Conference series sweep at Louisiana Monroe.

Wright was a highly rated left-handed pitcher in high school and signed with South Carolina despite missing most of his senior season with an injury. He redshirted at South Carolina as a freshman, then transferred to Seminole State College and earned team most valuable player honors by hitting .361 a season ago.

The Chants, who scored 42 runs in the Monroe series, are idle until next weekend's Sun Belt home series with Troy.

Elsewhere:
* College of Charleston, Winthrop and Wofford picked up series sweeps at home.

-- College of Charleston (13-6) pounded Furman in the series opener, then won a pair of pitchers' duels to close out the weekend.

-- Winthrop (10-9) fell behind 3-0 in Sunday's Big South Conference finale against Charleston Southern, then rallied to win with four runs in the ninth. Alex Raines' fifth hit of the game drove in two runs to tie the score and two batters later Hunter Lipscomb singled into right field to deliver the winner.

-- After a pair of lopsided wins to open the series, Wofford closed the Lafayette series by overcoming a 6-2 deficit. Brett Rodriguez's bases-loaded walk in the eighth  provided the 7-6 win. Reese Maniscalco struck out five in 2 2/3 innings of one-hit relief.

* Notre Dame (8-10, 4-2) got an ACC series win at Clemson (14-5, 4-2) with a 10-inning 4-2 win on Sunday. Fighting Irish pitcher Cameron Junker took a shutout into the eighth inning before Grayson Byrd's double broke up the shutout and tied the score.  A Clemson error allowed the wining run to score and an insurance run was unearned because the error prolonged the inning. The Tigers got two hits in the bottom of the inning before they were retired.

* Georgia (18-2, 3-0) did all its scoring in the ninth inning and beat South Carolina, 4-2, to complete an SEC series sweep in Columbia. The Gamecocks (14-6, 0-3) hit five home runs, but struck out 41 times in three games.

* Starter Reagan Fowler struck out 12 batters in six innings and reliever Coloton Springs added five more over the final there frames as Presbyterian (8-12, 2-1) took the rubber game of a Big South Conference home series with Radford. Jimmy Marcelli and Luke Matthews had two hits apiece for PC, which scored the game's only run on a sixth-inning wild pitch.

* NJCAA Region 10 has a three-way tie for first place between Florence-Darlington Tech, Spartanburg Methodist and USC Lancaster after two weekends of league play. Lancaster had a 12-game winning streak snapped in a Saturday doubleheader split with Louisburg.

* Newberry's weekend sweep of Mars Hill pushed its home record this season to 15-0.

* Bradon O'Connor stole seven bases for Benedict (5-4) in the opener of a doubleheader sweep of LeMoyne-Owen on Sunday. Coach Selwyn Young's Tigers perennially among the stolen base leads in NCAA Division II, swiped 22 bases on the day.

* Makai Holloway pitched a no-hitter and struck out eight over seven inning as Claflin (14-8) beat Tuskegee in Game 2 of a doubleheader.  The sophomore left-hander from Atlanta walked two. The Panthers missed a series sweep because Tuskegee scored three runs in the seventh inning for a walk-off in Game 1.

For more Sunday game coverage, click here.