Winners and losers, March 29-April 4

Mike McGuire has USC Upstate
 competing for the Big South
 Conference lead.
 (USC Upstate photo)

Winners

* Mike McGuire has shown a knack for putting winning college baseball teams on the field no matter the level. He's been an head coach on the junior college, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division I levels has has moved on from each spot with a winning record. That is continuing in his second season at USC Upstate. The Spartans have an 18-6 record and are challenging for the Big South Conference regular-season title. Upstate trails Gardner-Webb by percentage points. Friday's win over Radford was the 400th of McGuire's career as a head coach.
 
* I documented Morris' first doubleheader sweep since 2013 earlier this week, but it's worth another mention. The Hornets' baseball history since I started blogging in 2009 has been modest, to be polite. Baseball seems to be a popular target when Historically Black Colleges and Universities look to save money. S.C. State did it decades ago. Winston-Salem State dropped baseball recently and N.C. Central plans to do so after this season. Major League Baseball has tried to reignite interest in baseball among minority communities, but it seems to be an uphill battle. That seems to have extended to college baseball. That's why I like to give a shoutout and encouragement to HBCU teams when I can.

* Florence-Darlington Tech is appearing in, and climbing in, the national junior college rankings as its standout season continues. The four-game sweep of USC Sumter over the weekend extended the Stingers' winning streak to eight games. Coupled with a 14-game streak earlier this season, FD Tech has won 22 of 23 games at the midpoint of its NJCAA Region 10 schedule. The Stingers have a half-game lead over Spartanburg Methodist, which has won 10 of its last 111 overall after a 3-1 series win over USC Lancaster.

* It's hard to believe that before Sunday South Carolina hadn't won a series at Georgia since 2010, the year of the Gamecocks' first College World Series title. It looked Foley Field's reign as a house of horrors for USC would continue when eight Georgia pitchers held the Gamecocks at bay in Friday's series opener. But Carolina broke out the long ball over the final two games to take a series win. A solid eight-inning start by freshman Georgia native Will Sanders was icing on the cake. Three weeks into the SEC season, USC is sitting at 6-3. Considering it was swept by No. 1 Vanderbilt to open league play and had Florida and recent nemesis Georgia looming afterward, coach Mark Kingston likely feels pretty content with the results of the past two weekends.

* When Erskine dropped the final three games of its home series with Belmont Abbey a couple of weeks ago, it looked like the Flying Fleet were in danger of dropping out of contention the Conference Carolinas. But wins in five of its last gave have put Erskine a game behind second-place North Greenville and within striking distance of first-place Mount Olive, which comes to Due West later in the season.

* During Coker's series at Virginia Wise this weekend, Reilly Hall put up numbers usually reserved for video games. Hall was 7-for-13 with a double, 6 home runs, 13 runs scored and 12 RBIs. 

Losers

* A couple of weekend ago, The Citadel looked to be positioned where it needed to be. A win over Wofford in the opener of a doubleheader gave the Bulldogs a four-game winning streak and a 1-0 record in the Southern Conference. Instead, things have gone miserably for The Citadel, which is on an eight-game losing streak. The Bulldogs suffered run-rule losses twice in being swept by Mercer to drop to 1-7 in the league.

* Lander also looked in great shape a couple of weeks ago, sitting at 14-8. Instead, the Bearcats have lost seven straight to drop below .500.

* Coastal Carolina dropped three of four at Louisiana to start 1-2 in the Sun Belt Conference (one loss wasn't a conference game, but that wasn't the worst news of the past week. After the Chanticleers got home it was determined that there COVID-19 issues in the program and this week's conference series with Appalachian State was postponed. Ditto for single games with UNC Wilmington and College of Charleston midweek this week. The next scheduled games are against Texas-Arlington next weekend. 

A little of both

* Clemson rebounded well from a 1-5 start to ACC play, winning its next two league series. After a misstep during a shutout loss to Georgia on Tuesday, the Tigers headed to N.C. State, which has fared well at home against the Tigers in recent seasons. Behind three home runs and nine RBIs from Dylan Brewer, Clemson won the first two games in Raleigh to clinch its third straight ACC series win and first series victory at State since 2013. The series ended on a down note, with the Wolfpack rallying from an early deficit and later winning the game with four-run eighth innings. Still, the Tigers sit at 8-7 in the ACC.

* Bob Jones dropped the first two games of its home series with Toccoa Falls, but the nascent program made history in Game 3 when it got its first walk-off win. Down 1-0 in the sixth, the Bruins tied the score, then wiggled out of a Toccoa Falls threat in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the inning, Andrew Vanderberghe singled and David Gonzalez walked. Isaiah Brandt followed with a single up the middle to deliver a 2-1 win and a celebration at Conestee Park.