Clemson (27-18, 12-12) snapped its school-record nine-game ACC losing streak by rallying with a six-run seventh inning for an 11-7 win over Georgia Tech (30-14, 15-9) in a testy series finale in Atlanta on Sunday.
There were five hit batsmen in the game. A warning was issued to both teams after Clemson's Travis Marr hit Kyle McCann and Tristan English to open the fifth inning. Both had homered in their previous at-bat.
Clemson's Sam Weatherly was ejected after the eight inning, although I wasn't watching at the time and don't know the specific reason. In the ninth, Tech's Keyton Gibson was ejected for hitting Bryce Teodosio. Jackets coach Danny Hall was ejected after protesting Gibson's ejection. Clemson's Holt Jones was tossed for hitting Luke Waddell to open the ninth and Tigers coach Monte Lee was thrown out as well.
Tech took a 5-1 after one inning and still had a 7-5 lead before Clemson's rally.
Grayson Byrd and Justin Hawkins homered for the Tigers, who are idle until a Saturday home game against Gardner-Webb. The Tigers are in a fourth-place tie with Wake Forest and Notre Dame, both also 12-12, in the Atlantic Division. Clemson is 4 1/2 games behind first-place Louisville (15-6 in conference) and two games behind Florida State and N.C. State (both 14-10).
Conference Tournaments
* Conference Carolinas - North Greenville (40-9) beat Mount Olive, 10-7, to wrap up its second straight tournament title and strengthen its bid for the top seed in the Southeast Regional of the NCAA Division II playoffs. John Michael Faile doubled and homered as he drove in five runs. Jeremy Whitehead was 4-for-4 and Jeffrey Chandler Jr. and Josh Senter hit home runs. The Crusaders outscored their opponents 44-22 in their four tournament games.
* South Atlantic Conference - Down to its final out, Newberry (41-13) had five straight runners reach base and scored four runs for a 6-5 win over Wingate (33-18) to advance to Monday's championship round in Kodak, Tenn. An error allowed the tying run to score and Tyler White followed with a game-winning single. The Wolves must beat Catawba (41-12), which shut out the Wolves 2-0, earlier Sunday, twice.
Elsewhere:
* USC Upstate (20-22, 8-12) gave coach Matt Fincher his 500th career coaching win with a 4-2 win at Longwood (10-33, 4-17) to complete a Big South Conference series sweep. The Spartans' J.J. Shimko had three hits, including a homer, and extended his streak of multi-hit games to seven.
* Dupree Hart singled twice, homered twice and drove in four runs for College of Charleston (28-16, 10-5) in the Cougars' 10-3 win over UNC Wilmington (23-23, 7-8) to avoid a CAA series sweep at Patriots' Point. Chaz Davey singled twice and drove in three runs, while Josh Price had five solid innings of relief pitching. The Cougars are in second place in the Colonial Athletic Association, 4 1/2 games behind Elon (27-18, 16-2). UNCW is three games behind the Cougars in third place.
* Bobby Wenthe had two hits and drove in four runs as USC Beaufort (22-31) overcame an early four-run deficit and ended its season with a 10-8 win at NAIA No. 3 Georgia Gwinnett (40-11) in Game 2 of a doubleheader. USCB lost the opener, 6-1.
* South Carolina (24-20, 5-16) continued to beat itself with defensive miscues and poor hitting in a rain-shortened (seven innings) 9-7 loss at Missouri (30-15-1, 10-10-1) to complete an SEC series sweep. Carolina scored four runs in the top of the first, but starter T.J. Shook left with an injury with two outs in the bottom of the first. The Gamecocks, already pitching-thin because of injuries, brought in closer Brett Kerry because there were few other reliable options. Kerry struggled through 4 1/3 innings. Carolina took a 7-6 lead with two unearned runs in the sixth, then gave up the tying run in the bottom of the inning. Mizzou got a two-run homer in the seventh for the winning margin. Carolina hit just .138 for the series and struck out 33 times in 87 at-bats. USC is hitting .185 with 198 strikeouts in 21 SEC games. The Gamecocks are tied with Alabama and Kentucky for 12th in the overall standings. The top 12 teams make the SEC Tournament.
* Coastal Carolina (26-18-1, 11-9) gave up five runs in the eighth inning and suffered a 15-11 loss at Georgia State (13-32, 4-17) to miss out on a chance at a Sun Belt Conference series road sweep. Kieton Rivers had five hits and Jake Wright drove in four runs for the Chants, who remained a half-game behind Georgia Southern (26-19, 12-9) in the East Division race. Appalachian State (19-22, 11-9) shares second with Coastal.
* Kaden Dreier's two-run homer in the fourth inning broke a 1-1 tie and Samford (33-12, 13-2) went on to a 6-1 win over Wofford (26-19, 8-6) to win the rubber game of a Southern Conference series. Bulldogs starter Zach Hester held the host Terriers to two hits over seven innings. The loss, coupled with a 6-0 Mercer (24-20, 11-7) win over East Tennessee State (27-14, 7-7), dropped Wofford into third place in the SoCon by percentage points. Wofford is a half-game ahead of UNC Greensboro (26-15, 8-7), a game up on ETSU and a game and a half of Furman (18-26, 7-8).
* UNCG was an 8-3 winner over The Citadel (10-32, 3-12) as the Bulldogs lost their 12th straight game.
* Kansas (22-20) scored two runs in the first inning, two in the second and eight in the fourth to coast to a 15-1 win at Furman to win the deciding game of their nonconference series. The Paladins were shut out until a bases-loaded walk in the ninth.
* USC Aiken (27-20, 16-11) was a 6-5 winner over Flagler (28-21, 19-11) to claim a Peach Belt Conference series victory and pull within percentage points of Young Harris (31-16, 15-10) for third place. Those teams meet in Aiken next weekend. There's still a mathematical possibility of USC Aiken winning or sharing the regular-season title if it sweeps Young Harris.
* Lander (18-32, 13-17) lost to first-place North Georgia (31-16, 18-9) and was eliminated from Peach Belt Conference Tournament contention. The Nighthawks need one win against Columbus State next weekend to clinch the regular-season title.
* Benedict (14-18, 9-10) suffered a doubleheader loss at Kentucky State (26-14-1, 13-7) by scores of 5-3 and 9-2. The Tigers finished fifth in the SIAC standings, which could put them in line for a first-round rematch with the Thorobreds in the league tournament in Albany, Ga. this week.
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