Monte Lee's Tigers are back at .500
overall and in ACC play after a
weekend sweep. (Clemson photo)
Winners
* Clemson's season has been up and down more than a Yo-Yo. The Tigers had a six-game losing streak earlier in the season and ended a seven-game slide with a Friday night ACC win over Wake Forest. After a Saturday rainout, the Tigers maintained their momentum with a pair of one-run wins on Sunday. The second game provided coach Monte Lee with his 200th win as Clemson's head coach and improved the Tigers' record in one-run games to 3-7. In addition, Clemson moved to 18-18 overall and 12-12 at the two-thirds mark of the Atlantic Coast Conference season. |
| Chad Holbrook has had winning records in each of his eight seasons as head coach. (CofC photo) |
parted ways after the 2017 season, he was scooped up by College of Charleston. It's been a successful collaboration. With Tuesday's win over The Citadel, Holbrook picked up both his 100th career win with the Cougars and his 300th overall.
Also on his resume is his important role as recruiter and assistant coach for South Carolina's two national championship teams.
* Newberry earned the third seed for the South Atlantic Conference Tournament, only to get hammered by Wingate in the first round. That sent coach Russell Triplett's Wolves against regular-season champ and national No. 7 Catawba in the second round. Newberry jumped to a 7-0 lead, only to see the Indians rally to tie the score at 8-8 in a game delayed at least once by rain.
The Wolves had the potential winning run thrown out to end the ninth inning, then won in the 10th on a bases-loaded fielder's choice.
On Sunday, Newberry trounced Tusculum, 18-11, behind 7 RBIs by Luke Orr and effective middle relief by Bryce Peterson when the game was still tight.
That puts them in Monday's championship round against either Wingate or Carson-Newman.
* COVID-19 and its effects dealt a particularly tough hand to Benedict this season. The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference canceled its conference schedule and tournament, leaving Tigers coach Selwyn Young scrambling to get some games for his team to play. He cobbled together a 10-game schedule -- later reduced to eight. A split with Clark Atlanta on Wednesday ended the Tigers' season at 4-4.
But Benedict still did what Young's teams do best: steal bases. The Tigers were 79-for-81 in steals, leaving them one steal short of averaging 10 steals per game. They averaged 9.88 per game, which would top their national record of 8.15 set in 2013. I'm sure the current season won't be eligible for record consideration because so few games were played.
Benedict has the top five spots in the NCAA Division II record book for steals per game in a season. It also has the top two single-season records for steals in a season. Young's teams have led Division II in steals per game eight times and total steals seven times..
But Benedict still did what Young's teams do best: steal bases. The Tigers were 79-for-81 in steals, leaving them one steal short of averaging 10 steals per game. They averaged 9.88 per game, which would top their national record of 8.15 set in 2013. I'm sure the current season won't be eligible for record consideration because so few games were played.
Benedict has the top five spots in the NCAA Division II record book for steals per game in a season. It also has the top two single-season records for steals in a season. Young's teams have led Division II in steals per game eight times and total steals seven times..
Senior Bradon O'Connor was 19-for-19 this season, giving him 101 steals in 110 attempts for his career.
* Marshall Thompson has tied the Lander season record of 13 strikeouts in a game three times this season, mostly recently against USC Aiken Friday night. That gave Thompson 102 whiffs for the season, four behind the school record of 106 set by Will Jones in 2016.
* Columbia International won two of three games at Truett McConnell to slip past the Bears into seventh place in the Appalachian Athletic Conference with one series remaining before the league tournament in May. The NAIA conference is tightly bunched after first-place Tennessee Wesleyan, which has a 7 1/2 game lead over second-place Reinhardt. The Rams are 1 1/2 games out of second place and 1 1/2 games out of ninth place. By the way, they won two of three at Tennessee Wesleyan in their regular-season meeting.
* Rain made the final week of NJCAA Region 10 play a little anticlimactic. Florence-Darlington Tech wrapped up the top seed for the tournament without having the step on the field. That's not to say the Stingers weren't worthy regular-season champions. They proved their mettle over the course of the season, but it would have been nice for the league's fans to have some late drama. Losing all four scheduled games against USC Union would have been improbable, but it would have opened the door for Louisburg to share first place or for Spartanburg Methodist to edge the Stingers for first place.
Eight of the weekend's scheduled 12 games were rained out, limiting the possibility of movement further down the standings, too. After one coach texted me the news of a rainout, I replied "Bummer," to which he responded "No more appropriate words have ever been spoken."
* Marshall Thompson has tied the Lander season record of 13 strikeouts in a game three times this season, mostly recently against USC Aiken Friday night. That gave Thompson 102 whiffs for the season, four behind the school record of 106 set by Will Jones in 2016.
* Columbia International won two of three games at Truett McConnell to slip past the Bears into seventh place in the Appalachian Athletic Conference with one series remaining before the league tournament in May. The NAIA conference is tightly bunched after first-place Tennessee Wesleyan, which has a 7 1/2 game lead over second-place Reinhardt. The Rams are 1 1/2 games out of second place and 1 1/2 games out of ninth place. By the way, they won two of three at Tennessee Wesleyan in their regular-season meeting.
Losers
* Coastal Carolina was hoping Wofford transfer Reece Maniscalco would play a major role in its pitching plans this season. Maniscalco made 43 appearances at Wofford and led the Terriers with six saves in 2019. Arm issues caused him to miss the 2018 season and stopped his 2020 season after one start. Arm issues had limited the right-hander to 7 2/3 innings this season. Earlier this week, it was learned that Maniscalco won't pitch the remainder for the season as he recuperates.* Rain made the final week of NJCAA Region 10 play a little anticlimactic. Florence-Darlington Tech wrapped up the top seed for the tournament without having the step on the field. That's not to say the Stingers weren't worthy regular-season champions. They proved their mettle over the course of the season, but it would have been nice for the league's fans to have some late drama. Losing all four scheduled games against USC Union would have been improbable, but it would have opened the door for Louisburg to share first place or for Spartanburg Methodist to edge the Stingers for first place.
Eight of the weekend's scheduled 12 games were rained out, limiting the possibility of movement further down the standings, too. After one coach texted me the news of a rainout, I replied "Bummer," to which he responded "No more appropriate words have ever been spoken."
Of course, rain was a thorn in Region 10's side all season. Nineteen of 84 scheduled region games (22.6 percent) were rained out.
A little of both
* Yes, South Carolina dropped two of three to No. 1 Arkansas, and yes, the Gamecocks' batters looked lost at the plate during the two losses.
But the Gamecocks continued to get solid pitching from their weekend starters. Arkansas hitters made USC pay for pitchers' mistakes in late innings, and that was the difference. Carolina hitters need to figure out how to take advantage when opposing pitchers make a mistake.
* Claflin ended its season with a 3-29 record and on a seven-game losing streak, but catcher Jordan McCray had a noteworthy moment in Thursday's season finale at Flagler. McCray threw out would-be base-stealer Jake Kaufman in the second inning. Kaufman had been 20-for-20 in steals until that point.
* USC Beaufort lost of three at Webber International over the weekend, but that was enough to clinch a spot in the Sun Conference Tournament in May.
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