Saturday's S.C. college baseball roundup, April 6

Mat Clark pitched into the eighth inning and Grayson Byrd singled, homered and drove in three runs in his first career start in the outfield as Clemson (24-7, 11-3) beat Louisville (23-8, 9-5) for the second straight day Saturday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

Clark (7-0) allowed four hits and one run before being replaced. Carson Spiers out out a bases-loaded situation in the ninth to allow the Tigers to tighten their grip on second place in the ACC Atlantic Division, one game behind N.C. State. Clemson and Louisville had entered the weekend tied for second

Elsewhere:
* Andrew Livingston's grand slam capped a five-run sixth and Presbyterian (13-18, 6-5) beat UNC Asheville (11-18, 6-5), 6-2, and gave coach Elton Pollock his 300th career win with a Big South Conference series-clinching win.

* Parker Chavers had six hits as Coastal Carolina (21-11-1, 7-4) split a Sun Belt Conference twinbill at South Alabama (14-16, 4-7) and keep a one-game lead over Georgia Southern in the Sun Belt Conference's East Division.

* Logan McRae's two-out homer in the ninth lifted College of Charleston (21-11, 6-2) to a 6-5 win over James Madison and into a first-place tie with Elon in the Colonial Athletic Association.

*  South Carolina (18-13, 3-9) used a superb relief outing by Brett Kerry and a 12th-inning wild pitch to beat Alabama, 5-4, and avoid an SEC series sweep. The Gamecocks led 4-0 after 1 1/2 innings, but didn't get a hit after the fourth inning. Kerry pitched 5 2/3 innings of two-hit, shutout relief.

* Winthrop (17-13, 8-3) kept pace with Campbell in the Big South Conference with a 6-1 win over High Point. Nate Pawelczyk had a solid eight-inning start and Alex Raines had three hits and drove in two runs.

* Furman (11-19, 4-4) was an out away from a doubleheader sweep, but instead was victimized for two two-run homers in the ninth and another in the 13th to lose to UNC Greensboro (19-10, 4-4), 11-9, after wining the opener. 10-3.

* Western Carolina (13-14, 3-5) evened its SoCon series with Wofford (20-13, 3-2) with a walk-off 4-3 win in Cullowhee. Mike Brown had two hits, two walks and two RBIs for the Terriers.

* North Greenville (31-7, 18-3) used an 8-2, 6-2 doubleheader sweep at King (11-22, 6-13) to increase its lead in the Conference Carolinas standings to 5 1/2 games.  That's because second-place Mount Olive (24-11, 12-8) split with Southern Wesleyan. In addition third-place Erskine (22-17, 11-8) split with fourth-place Barton (24-4, 12-9), so the Crusaders gained ground on their three closest pursuers.

* Southern Wesleyan (15-23, 6-14) clinched a series win with a 9-5 in the opener and scored the three runs in the ninth of Game 2 before losing in 10 innings, 5-4, to Mount Olive.

* USC Aiken (20-16, 12-8) hammered Augusta, 11-3, in Peach Belt Conference play as the Pacers had 10 hits, 12 walks and 2 hit batsmen.

* Newberry (33-9, 16-2) fell into a virtual tie with Catawba (33-8, 17-3) by splitting two SAC games at Carson-Newman. The Wolves had pushed their league winning streak to 13 games in the opener as they clinched their first series win in Jefferson City since 2003.

* Claflin (19-10) extended its winning streak to five games with wins of 11-10 and 3-1 over Virginia State in Orangeburg by scoring in their final at-bat each time. The Panthers won the opener in walk-off by scoring four runs in the bottom of the seventh. Jalen Spruill singled in Elliott Melton with the winner. Craig Hopkins homered, doubled and drove in six runs, The Panthers scored three runs in the sixth in the nightcap, where Cleveland Westbrook pitched a complete game and did not allow an earned run.  Grayland Fowler had a two-run double.

* Leniel Gonzalez had two homers in six RBIs as Francis Marion (22-15, 13-10) won its opener with UNC Pembroke (17-19, 7-13), 15-5. The Patriots picked up the sweep by stranding the potential tying run at third to end a 6-5 victory.

* Jackson Strange homered in the sixth inning of Game 2 as Anderson (13-25, 4-14) avoided a series sweep by Tusculum (26-15, 13-5) with a 4-3 victory. The Pioneers won the opener, 9-3.

* Josh Gregory had a double and an inside-the-park home run as Lander (15-24, 10-11) salvaged the final game of a series with Georgia College with a 5-1 victory in Saturday's nightcap. The Bobcats won Game 1, 12-5.

* Reilly Hall had four hits and drove in four runs as Coker (13-21-1) split a nonconference doubleheader at Eckerd (20-13). The Cobras lost the opener, 12-2, and rebounded in Game 2. 9-5.

* Will Abbott took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of the opener and Florence-Darlington Tech (31-9, 11-3) moved into a virtual tie for first place in NJCAA Region 10 by sweeping USC Lancaster (24-10, 10-8), 1-0 and 7-3. Damond Nixon singled, homered and drove in three runs in Game 2.  Spartanburg Methodist (21-13, 10-2) won Game 1 at USC Sumter, 15-2, but lost the nightcap to the Fire Ants (22-18, 8-6) to fall to percentage points ahead in the standings. Sumter also moved past Lancaster into fourth place.

* USC Salkehatchie (11-31, 2-16) rode a complete game by Braxton Copley to a 3-1 over USC Union in the opener, but the Bantams (9-15, 5-9) held on to win Game 2, 7-6.