Winners and losers, March 1-7

I don't know if I'll get the chance to do this every week, but I had some extra time this week. It may be that I sometimes do this on a Monday because those are usually light days on the schedule.

Winners

Joe Satterfield played at Mann High
in Greenville before starting his
college career at Elon. (USC photo)

* South Carolina was forced to win without relying on the long ball in its series sweep of Mercer, and the Gamecocks did just that.  Of course, a pitching staff which one run while striking 44 in 27 innings was a great help. too. Redshirt sophomore Julian Bosnic has been brilliant, if erratic. He has struck out 21 and walked 8 in 10 innings while not allowing any hits. Joe Satterfield, a graduate transfer from Elon, got just one at-bat in the first six games. He was 5-for-11 with a double and eight RBIs in three starts this week.

* Clemson coach Monte Lee has been high in his praise of freshman Caden Grice, and the Greer native showed some justification for that confidence this week. He hit four home runs as part of a  6-for-13 performance. He drove in six runs, scored seven, and walked four times.

* Voorhees won a game for the first time since April 28, 2019, when it beat Florida Memorial, 3-1, in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader. The Tigers had lost 17 straight games since beating Selma in its final game of 2019.

* Erskine hit .385 in its four-game sweep of Emmanuel. The Flying Fleet hitn 8 doubles and 11 homers on the weekend. After a 1-4 start, Erskine's has gone 9-2 with a pair of losses to nationally ranked North Greenville.

* USC Upstate is off to its best start as an NCAA Division I program at 9-0.

* Benedict was able to cobble together a 10-game schedule on short notice after the SIAC pulled the plug on a conference season.

* Columbia International extended its school-record winning streak to nine games before losing two of three to Appalachian Athletic Conference St. Andrews over the weekend.

* Francis Marion dropped its first four Peach Belt Conference games, but the Patriots have won five straight in the league and six overall.

* North Greenville continues to roll along, winning five of six  games and creeping a little closer to first-place Mount Olive in the Conference Carolinas standings.

* Charleston Southern was swept by Boston College on opening weekend, then had Week 2 wiped out by COVID-19. The Buccaneers shook off the rust to win two of three against Longwood. It was the CSU's first series win on the opening week of conference play since 2009.

Losers

* Wofford got a reminder that baseball can be a humbling game. The Terriers took a 7-2 record down to Florida to face an 0-8 Jacksonville team and came home victims of a three-game sweep. 

* Southern Wesleyan looked poised to snap a nine-game losing streak and avoid a Conference Carolinas sweep when it took a 6-1 lead into the bottom of the final inning of the series finale at Belmont Abbey. Instead, the host Crusaders scored six runs in win in walk-off fashion.

* Presbyterian and Winthrop had their opening Big South series against UNC Asheville and High Point, respectively, wiped out by COVID-19 issues. The conference adjusted on short notice and had UNCA and High Point play each other.