Regular-season champion Spartanburg Methodist (30-16) scored nine runs in the sixth inning in a 10-5 victory over Florence-Darlington Tech (42-12) Sunday night to reach the championship round of the NJCAA Region 10 Tournament at Lexington County Baseball Stadium.
Perhaps fittingly after a region schedule that included 14 rainout cancellations, the league tournament has also had to deal with inclement weather issues.
The championship round originally was scheduled for Monday, but had to be pushed back a day for the prior rounds to be completed. That means coach Tim Wallace's Pioneers will get Monday off while FD Tech, USC Lancaster and USC Sumter play for their tournament lives and the chance to try to knock off SMC twice on Tuesday for the region title.
Lancaster and Sumter play at 1, with that winner to play FD Tech at approximately 4:30 p.m. for the second berth in the title round. The Pioneers need one win on Tuesday to advance to the Eastern District Tournament and a shot at the junior college world series later this month.
Earlier Sunday, USC Salkehatchie overcame a 5-0 deficit to beat USC Union (10-20), 11-6, in an elimination game carried over from Saturday because of the weather. USC Lancaster (30-15) stayed alive with a 16-10 win over Louisburg, and defending tournament champion USC Sumter ((29-21) eliminated Salkehatchie (14-40), 4-2.
The Eastern District Tournament will be hosted by the Region 20 champion. Harford (Md.) CC is one win on Monday win away from winning that region.
Elsewhere:
* Wofford (29-20, 11-6), twice down to its last strike, manufactured a two-run rally for a 4-3 win at The Citadel (10-36, 3-15) to complete a Southern Conference series sweep and extend the Bulldogs' losing streak to 16 games for now (more on that later).
Consecutive run-scoring hits by Ryan McCarthy and Ches Goodman put the Bulldogs up, 3-2, in the bottom of the eighth.
After the first two Terriers were retired in the ninth, Mike Brown, who fell behind 1-2, drew a walk and stole second base. Brett Rodiguez was hit by a pitch and a double-steal put both runners in scoring position. Hudson Byorick also fell behind 1-2 before singling back through the box to score two runs.
The Bulldogs, who haven't won since April 5, went down in order in the bottom of the ninth
Wofford starter Austin Higginbotham struck out 11 batters before leaving in the eighth inning.
The sweep allowed the Terriers to remain in third place in the SoCon, two games behind second-place Mercer (13-8 SoCon) and a half-game ahead of fourth-place UNC Greensboro (11-7). Samford (14-4) is in first place by 2 1/2 games.
Now, back to the Bulldogs' losing streak: The Citadel was leading College of Charleston, 3-2, when that game was suspended because of rain April 9. If the schools can't get together to finish that game, the Bulldogs would get a win in that game and move its losing streak down to 14 games.
* USC Upstate (22-22) evened its season record with an 8-4 win over Alabama State to complete a rain-shortened two-game series sweep. Julian Rip drove in four runs for the Spartans, who have won five straight games.
* Furman (20-27, 9-9) got back to .500 in Southern Conference play with a 13-5 win over VMI (14-35, 8-13) to take the rubber game of the league series. Dax Roper's two-run double highlighted a three-run first inning as the Paladins took a lead they never relinquished. Roper, Jabari Richards and David Webel had three hits apiece. The Paladins are in fifth place in the SoCon, two games behind UNC Greensboro and 1 1/2 games up on East Tennessee State (7-10 SoCon).
* Coastal Carolina (27-20-1, 12-11) took an early 5-1 lead and held on for an 11-9 win over Louisiana (22-28, 10-14) to salvage the finale of their three-game Sun Belt Conference series. Zach Biermann and Jake Wright drove in three runs apiece for the Chanticleers, who share second place with Appalachian State (12-11 Sun Belt) in the East Division. Both teams are a half-game behind Georgia Southern (13-11) and a half-game ahead of South Alabama (12-12) and Troy (12-12) with two weeks of league play remaining.
* South Carolina (24-23, 5-19) lost twice to Vanderbilt (38-9, 18-6) to fall into last place in the SEC overall standings and make earning a spot in the 12-team league tournament more difficult with six games left in the league schedule. The Commodores scored the final six runs of Game 1 for a 9-3 victory. They scored four second-inning runs in Game 2 and won, 6-2, to had the Gamecocks their sixth straight loss. Andrew Eyster and four hits and drove in three runs for Carolina on the day. USC is a game behind Alabama (6-18) and Kentucky (6-18), who currently are tied for the final ticket to Hoover later this month. Alabama holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Carolina. Kentucky visits USC next weekend, and the Gamecocks need at least two wins over the Wildcats to keep their chances alive. Carolina has yet to win a conference series in eight attempts this season.
* William & Mary ((28-19, 10-11) wrapped up a three-game CAA sweep of College of Charleston (28-19, 10-9) with a 10-inning 5-4 victory. Chaz Davey's three-run double put the Cougars up 4-3 in the eighth, but the Tribe forced extra inning with a ninth-inning homer. Elon (18-3) wrapped up the Colonial Athletic Association's regular-season title on Saturday. With first place out of reach, the College will focus on holding off James Madison (9-9) and William & Mary for second place.
* A six-run third inning propelled Gardner-Webb (20-23) to a 9-7 win over Clemson (28-19) at Shelby's Keeter Stadium and a split of their weekend series. It was the Bulldogs' first-ever baseball win over the Tigers. Clemson (12-12 ACC) is tied with Wake Forest for fourth place in the Atlantic Division. The Tigers trail Loisville (18-6) by six games. Florida State (16-11) and N.C. State (14-10) also are ahead of Clemson. The Tigers' next league action is in Raleigh against the Wolfpack.
* First-place Campbell (27-16, 15-5) took a perfect game into the seventh inning and won over Charleston Southern (17-30, 7-14), 4-1, to take the final game of their Big South Conference series. The result allowed the Camels to remain 1 1/2 game ahead of second-place Winthrop and Radford (both 14-7). Campbell and Winthrop meet next weekend in Rock Hill.
* USC Aiken (29-21, 18-12) missed on its chance for a share of the Peach Belt Conference regular-season championship with a 2-1 to Young Harris (32-18, 16-12) in Game 1, but the Pacers won the second game, 6-4, to earn the No. 3 seed for the league tournament beginning Friday in St. Augustine, Francis Marion (26-19, 15-14) earned the seventh seed. Lander (18-32, 13-17) did not get the help it needed on the final weekend to climb into the eighth spot. The tournament schedule will be announced Monday. There will be two four-team pools to determine the championship game participants.
Peach Belt seeds
* Claflin (25-18) beat Bluefield State, 10-3, to complete a 2-3 outing in the Independent NCAA Division II Schools Tournament at the Big League Camp near Marion, N.C. The Panthers went 1-3 to finish fifth in pool play in the five-team event. Winston-Salem State beat Virginia State, 4-0, to win the event in what could be WSSU's final game for the foreseeable future. The school announced earlier this year that it would be dropping baseball to help deal with financial issues. The Rams have competed as an independent since the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association dropped sponsorship of baseball, and the lack of conference affiliation likely didn't help baseball's cause.
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