Winners and losers, May 10-16

Winners

* Florence-Darlington Tech punched its ticket to the NJCAA World Series in impressive fashion this week. The Stingers (46-6) of coach Preston McDonald pulled away to beat Spartanburg Methodist in the Region 10 title game. Then, Tech pounded Monroe College of New York twice in the Eastern District Tournament to advance to the championship event in Grand Junction, Colo., May 29.

The Stingers have a .352 team batting average with 68 home runs and 111 stolen bases. But pitching is a strength, too. Tech has a 3.46 team ERA and have struck out 481 batters in 369 2/3 innings.

Another coach in the region told me the Stingers are built well to be competitive in the World Series format. We'll find out soon.

* Columbia International's season lives on. The Rams received a bid to the National Christian College Athletic Association playoffs and won the South Regional to earn to bid to the 10-team NCCAA World Series beginning Friday in Easley and Central. The Rams, in their second season as a program under coach Jonathan Johnson, have a 32-26 record.

* First-year coach Ted Falkner of USC Beaufort also got a postseason call, with the Sand Sharks being one of 45 teams invited to the NAIA playoffs. The Sand Sharks (31-21) are in the same bracket as fellow Sun Conference school Southeastern. USC Beaufort beat Southeastern in the opening game of the conference tournament, but lost to the Fire twice on the tournament's final day. The bracket winner will join nine other teams in the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho later this month.

* The Southeastern Conference appears top-heavy this season, and it has been South Carolina's misfortune to have all six of the other SEC teams who have been in and out of the Top 10 during the season on its schedule. Through five of those series (Tennessee comes up this weekend), Carolina has gone 6-9.  It's a plus for  the Gamecocks that they were one of the seven SEC teams named tis week as potential host sites for an NCAA Regional. I don't see seven bids going to SEC teams, and I suspect USC is No. 7 in the current pecking order. A good result in the Tennessee series and a couple of wins in the SEC Tournament are likely needed to change that.  A good offensive weekend in a sweep at Kentucky and a complete game by closer-turned-starter Brett Kerry might put the Gamecocks in a better frame of mind as the season winds down.

Wofford's Colin Davis is moving up
 the school's career leaders list in 
several categories. (Wofford photo)

* Colin Davis of Wofford continues to climb his school's career offensive charts. He is now fourth in doubles (51), seventh in runs batted in (143) and 10th in runs scored (147). Also, he is 11th in career hits. (217). Teammate Lawson Hill joined the 200-hit club with a two-run single at Western Carolina Friday night and is in 12th place with 205 hits.

* Presbyterian enhanced its chances of qualifying for the Big South Tournament with its sweep at High Point. The Blue Hose of coach Elton Pollock are a game ahead of Radford and three games ahead of Winthrop with one week remaining. PC plays at Winthrop, and can eliminate the Eagles with one victory. Any combination of PC wins and Radford losses totaling three will assure the Blue Hose of qualifying.  

Losers

* The residual impact of the COVID-19 pandemic cost Spartanburg Methodist a second chance to give coach Tim Wallace another trip to Grand Junction. The Region 10 champion usually advances to a four-team Eastern District Tournament with the champions of Regions 15 and 20. Host sites rotate, and the fourth team in the field is normally the runner-up team from the host region. This season, that would have been SMC. But Region 20 did not send a representative and the Eastern District Tournament was reduced to a two-team, best-of-three series.

* All the momentum Clemson had this time two weeks ago is gone. The weekend sweep of No. 4 Louisville had put the Tigers at 15-12 in the ACC.  A midweek win over USC Upstate let Clemson match its season high of four games over .500 overall. But the Tigers followed that by being swept at Georgia Tech. The final two losses were by one run and one was a walk-off.

The Tigers shook off that weekend disappointment long enough to beat South Carolina on Tuesday, perhaps giving their confidence a boost entering Florida State. However, Clemson lost two of three games in Tallahassee to fall below .500 in the ACC at 16-17. Clemson scored in the first inning all three games, only to have Florida State rally to go ahead. Only on Saturday could the Tigers answer the challenge.

Clemson had entered the weekend 12-3 against other Atlantic Division teams.

Next up is a home series with Duke, which is coming off a confidence-building sweep of Virginia Tech. It's a good thing Clemson clinched an ACC Tournament berth a few weeks ago, because a tournament championship appears to be the only way to an NCAA bid.

* College of Charleston had its fate in its hands ... and it slipped away. The Cougars were in first place in the CAA South Division by a game entering a weekend series at second-place UNC Wilmington and had a chance to dash the Seahawks' division title hopes. Instead, the Cougars made the trip back home on U.S. 17 in third place as the Seahawks celebrated a division title.

The College took leads into the bottom of the eighth inning in the final two games, only to seem them dissipate. The Seahawks scored three runs in the eighth on Saturday to tie, then won in walk-off fashion in the ninth. The Cougars were up 4-2 in the eighth on Sunday, but a grand slam capped a six-run UNW rally.

Any result other than three losses would have put the Cougars in position to win the division in its final regular-season series with Elon next weekend. Now, they must win the series over the Phoenix to finish second. 

A little of both

* USC Upstate was knocked out of the lead in the Big South Conference with a weekend sweep at the hands of Campbell. The Spartans were held scoreless on three singles over 16 innings on Saturday.

But I like the move the Spartans made midweek, picking up a game at Louisville. A win over the ACC Cardinals would bolster Upstate's postseason resume in case it doesn't win the Big South's automatic bid. Would it be a difference-maker for an at-large bid? Perhaps not, but it's a worthwhile step to take.

* The Citadel's losing streak reached 15 games before a gritty performance late in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader at Mercer brought it to an end. Down 7-5, Jeffery Brown delivered a two-run single and, two batters later, Crosby Jones singled in Brown for an 8-7 lead. Chace Cooper wrapped up the victory with his fourth inning of shutout relief.