Clemson (32-22, 14-14) overcame three errors for a 4-3 victory over Wake Forest (29-24, 13-15) at Doug Kingsmore Stadium Thursday night to move a game ahead of the Demon Deacons in the ACC Atlantic Division standings.
The Tigers scored single runs in the first and second innings on homers by Grayson Byrd and Bryar Hawkins, then added two in the fifth.
Wake Forest got an unearned run in the fifth and two more unearned runs in seventh. Tigers starter Mat Clark struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings, but was charged with the three unearned runs.
Carson Spiers got the final seven outs for his 11th save.
Clemson has a mathematical chance to finish in a tie for second place in the Atlantic Division, but can do no better than fourth because of tiebreakers.
Game 2 of the Wake Forest series is at 6 p.m. Friday
Louisville (20-8 ACC) clinched the Atlantic Division title with a 14-1 win over Florida State (16-12). The Cardinals can nab the overall top seed for the ACC Tournament with another win or a Georgia Tech loss to Pitttsburgh.
Elsewhere
* Danny Wondrack tied the game with a two-out home run in the ninth inning and College of Charleston (34-19, 14-8) scored three unearned runs in the 16th to beat Delaware (21-31, 9-13) and clinch second place in the Colonial Athletic Association.
Finishing second gives the Cougars a first-round bye in the league tournament.
Three CofC relievers combined for 11 2/3 innings of shutout relief, getting 12 strikeouts in the opener of a conference road series.
Chris Graham had three hits and six Cougars teammates added two apiece.
* Coastal Carolina (29-22-1, 14-12) had four homers among its 19 hits and cruised to a 19-3 victory over Appalachian State (21-29, 12-15) to open their Sun Belt Conference series.
Anthony Veneziano struck out nine and allowed three hits in five shutout innings for the Chanticleers, who kept their slim hopes of winning the East Division title alive. Coastal must win its final two games of the series and have Georgia Southern go 0-2 and South Alabama go 0-2, 1-1 or get rained out twice to take the division.
Coastal batters drew 13 walks and Appalachian State batters struck out 17 times.
* Julian Rip and Jeff Taylor had two singles and two doubles apiece for USC Upstate (23-27, 9-15) as the Spartans sailed to a 19-6 win over Winthrop (29-21, 16-9) to open their Big South Conference series in Spartanburg. Winthrop, which got three hits from Hunter Lipscomb, fell 1 1/2 games behind co-leaders Campbell (17-7) and Radford (17-7) with two games left for each team.
* Ryan Stoudemire homered in his fifth consecutive Big South Conference game as Charleston Southern (21-32, 11-14) hammered Presbyterian (27-27, 14-11), 10-5, in the opener of their series.
* Brett Rodriguez's fourth-inning single was all the offense Wofford (31-23, 12-9) could muster in a 1-0 loss at UNC Greensboro ((14-8 SoCon) to open their Southern Conference series. Wofford remained in fourth place, but fell 1 1/2 games behind the Spartans and Mercer in the standings with two games remaining.
* Mercer (29-24, 14-8) spotted Furman (23-29, 11-11) three runs in the first inning before rallying for an 8-3 victory to open their Southern Conference series in Greenville. Jordan Ammons had a three-run homer and R.J. Yeager added a solo shot in the Bears' four-run sixth-inning outburst to take the lead.
* South Carolina (27-26, 7-21) saw an early 2-0 lead melt away because of poor fielding, wildness and 22 Mississippi State (44-10, 19-9) hits in a 24-7 pasting in the opener of their SEC series. Andrew Eyster had three hits for the Gamecocks, who remained tied with Alabama and Kentucky for 12th place in the overall standings. Carolina must finish a game ahead of Alabama and at least tied with Kentucky in order to get an SEC Tournament bid.
NCAA Divsion II Southeast Regional
* Newberry bracket - Catawba used a five-run fifth inning to take control of its first-round game in a 9-2 win over Young Harris. The Indians will face Newberry Friday night after Newberry meets Young Harris earlier in the day.
* Tigerville bracket - Lincoln Memorial beat Mount Olive, 3-1, to advance to Friday's second game. The Railsplitters will play host North Greenville after the Crusaders meet Mount Olive earlier in the day.
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