Clemson's recent miseries continued Sunday when Duke's Matt Mervis led off the ninth winning with a home run to lift the Blue Devils to a 9-8 win at Doug Kingsmore Stadium for a three-game ACC series sweep.
It was the latest in a string of frustrations for the Tigers (25-15, 11-10), who have lost their last seven ACC games and their last seven overall as well.
Duke (24-16, 11-10) had an 8-2 lead and was coasting behind starter Cooper Stinson until he hit the wall in the fifth. He left with an 8-4 lead, then Justin Hawkins - hitting .067 entering the at-bat, tgied the score with a grand slam that traveled an estimated 447 feet, well over the Chapman Grandstand.
After Mervis gave Duke the lead, Clemson came tantalizingly close to to a pair of home runs in the bottom of the inning. Left fielder Kyle Gallagher reached over the fence to steal a homer from Kyle Wilkie. One out after Bryar Hawkins walked, Davis Sharpe hit a fly ball that Gallagher hauled in a foot or two in front of the wall.
With the loss, the Tigers fell behind Florida State (23-14, 11-9) into a fourth-place tie with Wake Forest (24-17, 11-10) in the Atlantic Division standings. Louiisville (31-9, 15-6) and N.C. State (31-10) hold the first two spots.
The seven-game overall losing streak is Clemson's longest since an 11-game losing streak in April, 2008. The seven-game skid in ACC play is the Tigers' longest since an eight-game streak in 1957, the year before Bill Wilhelm became head coach.
After midweek home games with Winthrop and Tennessee Tech, the Tigers will try to correct their ACC woes with a series at Georgia Tech (27-13, 13-8). The Yellow Jackets share first place in the Coastal Division with North Carolina (30-11, 13-8).
Elsewhere on Sunday:
* College of Charleston (26-14, 9-3) picked up a CAA series win at Northeastern (18-21, 8-7) with a 7-1 victory. The first three Cougars reached base in the first inning as Charleston took a lead it never relinquished. The Cougars are in second place in the Colonial Athletic Association, 2 1/2 games behind first-place Elon (24-16, 13-2) and 2 1/2 games ahead of Northeastern. The College is at UNC Wilmington (20-21, 5-7) next weekend, while Northeastern is at Elon.
* Francis Marion (25-19, 15-14) scored on a passed ball to break a 3-3 tie and pulled away to a 12-4 win at Georgia Southwestern (19-28, 12-15) to avoid being swept in the Peach Belt Conference road series in their league finale. FMU is in seventh place in the standings, but could finish higher with the right combination of results involving other teams. Some teams have six league games remaining
Looking at state teams in conference races
* SEC - South Carolina (23-17, 5-13) couldn't break through for a series win against Texas A&M (29-12-1, 11-6-1), but the Gamecocks did show incremental progress in reducing walks and getting better performances out of the bullpen. The offense is another matter. Carolina was 13-for-78 (.167) against the Aggies, dropping its batting average to .192 in 18 SEC games and .236 overall. USC is 12th in the overall SEC standings, but actually 11th for tournament purposes because Missouri (26-15-1, 7-10-1) -- USC's next league opponent -- is ineligible for the postseason. The Gamecocks are a game ahead of Alabama (24-17, 4-14) and Kentucky (20-20, 4-14) in the battle to qualify for Hoover. Bama has the tiebreaker over USC while the Gamecocks haven't played Kentucky yet.
* Sun Belt - Coastal Carolina (24-16-1, 9-8) lost a home series to Georgia Southern (23-17, 10-8), to fall a half-game behind the Eagles in the East Division standings. The Chanticleers are a half-game ahead of Troy (21-19, 9-9), a game up on Appalachian State (16-21, 8-9), and 1 1/2 games ahead of South Alabama (10-20, 8-10). Coastal is at last-place Georgia State (12-28, 3-15) next weekend.
* Big South - New member USC Upstate (17-21, 5-12) did most of its fellow Big South Conference teams a favor by splitting a rain-shortened two-game series with first-place Campbell (25-14, 13-4). That allowed Winthrop (23-16, 12-6) and Radford (20-19, 12-6 pull within 1 1/2 games of first place. Presbyterian (19-21, 11-7) lost ground by losing two of three to High Point (17-19, 10-8). Upstate tries to keep ahead of last-place Longwood (9-30, 4-14) with a visit ther nexyt weekend. PC plays a nonconference series at Pitt, while Winthrop is idle. Also idle are Campbell and Charleston Southern (16-27, 6-12) .
* Southern - First-place Samford (29-11, 11-1) has taken a 3 1/2 game lead over East Tennessee State (27-11, 7-4) and Wofford (24-17, 7-4), but the Terriers will have a chance to chop into that lead with a home series against the Bulldogs next weekend. Wofford and ETSU split a rain-shortened two-game series over the weekend. East Tennessee State has a series at fourth-place Mercer (20-20, 8-7). Furman (15-24, 7-8), which won two of three at Western Carolina (17-18. 6-9) steps out of the league to play host to Kansas next weekend. The Citadel (10-28, 3-9) tries to climb out of the cellar with a series at UNC Greensboro (22-14, 5-7).
* SAC - Newberry (38-12, 21-3) wrapped up the regular-season title over the weekend, but there are seven games to be played on Monday to help decide this week's league tournament in Kodak, Tenn. Included are a home doubleheader for Anderson (18-28, 7-15) against Mars Hill (17-25, 4-17) and a road doubleheader for Coker (16-25-1, 7-15) at Carson-Newman (29-17, 10-11). The Trojans and Cobras are tied for seventh place with Lenoir-Rhyne (22-25, 7-15) which closes league play with two games at Tusculum (28-19, 15-7).
* NJCAA Region 10 - Unless there's a joker in the mix I'm unaware of, the order of finish is 1. Spartanburg Methodist. 2. Florence-Darlington Tech. 3. Louisburg. 4. USC Lancaster. 5. USC Sumter. 6. USC Union. 7. USC Salkehatchie. Official standings and pairings for the league tournament beginning May 3 at Lexington County Baseball Stadium will be announced later this month.
* SIAC - Keeping track of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings is always an adventure. Based on the league Website, Benedict (15-14, 9-8) is in fourth place behind Albany State (17-1), Spring Hill (12-2) and Miles (11-5). The Tigers close out league play at fifth-place Kentucky State (7-7) next weekend.
Other teams:
* Claflin (22-12) is competing as an independent because the CIAA doesn't sponsor baseball. The Panthers, who had an eight-game winning streak snapped in a doubleheader loss at Virginia State, play five games this week. Included in that is a Saturday twinbill against Winston-Salem State at Fluor Field in Greenville, to close the regular season. Claflin hopes to play in a tournament for independent teams in May.
* USC Beaufort (21-29, 5-19), which lost two of three at Thomas, failed to qualify for The Sun Conference Tournament. The Sand Sharks close their season with four road games this week, three at NAIA power Georgia Gwinnett.
* Voorhees (9-16-2) was rained out of a weekend series with Piedmont International. The Tigers have six games scheduled against Selma University this week.
* Morris (1-13) appears to have concluded its season.
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