Who's hot; who's not, Feb. 21

 Sizzlin'

* Anderson - The Trojans are riding an 11-game winning streak. Kye Andress (.413) has hit safely in every game and the pitchers have a a 2.18 staff ERA and have struck out 119 in 91 innings (11.8 per nine). Next up is a Tuesday visit to Lander.

* Clemson - The Tigers didn't stumble out of the gate, winning two routs en route to a sweep of Indiana. Caden Grice hit his first homer of the season Sunday, raising his batting average to .500. For good measure, he pitched a shutout 10th inning and got the win. While the staff ERA for the weekend was 2.57, cutting down on walks (16 in 28 innings) will be a priority. The bullpen was superb, with an 0.98 ERA, a .156 opponents' batting average and 21 strikeouts in 18 innings

* Coastal Carolina - With a .349 team batting average and 2.67 staff ERA after opening weekend, how could the Chanticleers not be unbeaten? Leaving 11 men on base contributed to a 2-1 loss to Kent State on Sunday. Dale Thomas (.615, 5 doubles) and Austin White (.462) have given opposing pitchers headaches. Leaving 11 runners on base and allowing an unearned run proved costly against the Flashes.

* College of Charleston - The Cougars opened with a 20-run outburst, then took a pair of two-run victories in a 3-0 weekend. The College of batting .340 as a team. J.T. Marr was a terror for Florence-Darlington Tech last season, hitting .452 with nine homers as the Stingers reached the junior college  He's continued that in his Division I career. He's batting .583 (7-for-12) with a homer and two stolen bases. Joseph Mershon and Tyler Sorrentino are hitting .400

* Florence-Darlington Tech - The Stingers had another challenging weekend tournament, going 3-1 in Florida. Noah Stout went 4-for-8 with two homers, four RBIs and six runs scored.

* Newberry - The Wolves are 10-1 and playing with a lot of confidence. In Sunday's rubber game of the Lander series, the Wolves fell behind 6-0 early and trailed 8-6 entering the ninth. Braylin Marine had a two-run single to tie the score and stole home with the go-ahead (winning) run. Marine is batting .364 with 17 RBIs and 10 steals. Jacob LeBron leads the team with a .409 average.

* North Greenville - The Crusaders opened Conference Carolinas play on a positive note, taking two of three in a series at Erskine.

* Presbyterian - Road series wins are always good, and that's what the Blue Hose did over the weekend at North Florida. PC surrendered the tying run in the eighth inning, but responded with a two-run 11th for a happy trip back up I-95 into the Palmetto State.

* South Carolina - What a difference a six-run ninth can make. UNC Greensboro pitcher Austin Parsley had baffled Gamecocks batters through seven innings of Sunday's game and the Spartans were  this close to a series win. But a two-out grand slam by Andrew Eyster helped produce five unearned runs and a tie game. Carolina won it in the 10th. Wesley Sweatt, who has struggled for consistency during his career, got the save Friday and pitched 3 1/3 shutout innings Sunday. As expected, veterans Braylin Wimmer (.615) and Eyster (.487, 2 HR, 8 RBI) have been offensive leaders.

* The Citadel - After winning just 12 games in 2021, the Bulldogs certainly enjoyed a 3-0 opening weekend against Fairleigh-Dickinson. The team hit .327, lead by Tilo Skole (.600, 7 RBIs) and Ryan McCarthy (.417).  On the mound, Ben Hutchins and Cameron Reeves had solid starts. Hutchins also homered as DH.

* USC Sumter - In the team of the week report I mentioned the Fire Ants scored 82 runs in five games against CCBC-Dundalk. Here's some more info now that I have all the box scores. The Fire Ants hit .511 (71-for-139) with 20 doubles, a triple and five homers. Sumter pitchers had a staff ERA of 1.00 (it would be 0.78 if ERAs were calculated based a seven-inning standard) and struck out 31 hitters in 27 innings. Jackson Price of the Fire Ants went 10-for-14 for the series and is hitting .484.

* USC Union - The Bantams are on a four-game winning streak. A major offensive cog has been Trent Turner, who is hitting .579 (11-for-19) with seven extra-base hits and nine RBIs.

* USC Upstate - The Spartans had a nice blend of hitting (.295) and pitching (3.33) in winning two of three over Ohio. Devin Buckner reached base eight times and batted .545 in the series.

* Voorhees - The Tigers won their first two games of the season last week. Henriadam Brower, Joseph Gaines, Miles McCoy and Keelan Sloan were the offensive leaders, going a combined 17-for-44 with 16 runs scored, 16 RBIs, 6 walks and 7 stolen bases.

* Winthrop - Jack Spyke reached base 10 times as the Eagles won two of three. He was 4-for-7 (.571) with four walks and two hit-by-pitches.

* Wofford - Russell C. King Stadium was the place for offensive fans to be over the weekend. Wofford won two of three over George Mason. The Terriers had a .337 batting average to the Patriots' .336 and outscored them 31-28. Zeb Roos (.571, 6 RBI), Ryan Galanie (.556, 2 HR) and Shane Lussier (.500) led the attack.

* Joshua Hernandez - Give Columbia International's two-way player points for consistency at the plate. He hit .325 in .2020, .327 in 2021 and took a .327 average into Monday's doubleheader with Morris.

* Johnny Hummel - Erskine's closer has three saves, with 13 strikeouts in seven innings.

* Mason Streater - Lander's third baseman and team captain homered in all three games of the Newberry series to raise his average to .313.

Shiverin'

* Benedict - The Tigers fell to 0-7. Despite a pedestrian .267 batting average, Benedict has stolen 62 bases. Bradon O'Connor is now 22-for-24 on the basepaths.

* Charleston Southern - At first glance a .297 opponents batting average doesn't look that bad for the Buccaneers in a three-game sweep by Mississippi. But 15 walks in 21.1 innings helped lead to a 9.28 staff ERA. Four errors contributed to 10 unearned runs or the ERA could have been worse.

* Southern Wesleyan - The Warriors suffered a brutal weekend series sweep at UNC Pembroke, hitting .211 as a team and compiling an 11.68 staff ERA.

* Spartanburg Methodist - The Pioneers made their yearly trip to a tournament in Wadley, Ala., and this time it was a struggle. Sunday's 4-3 loss to John A. Logan was painful, as three of the opponents' runs were unearned. The Pioneers hit .228 as a team, not that much difference from the rivals. But  18 walks in 25 innings from SMC pitchers contributed to a 6.45 ERA for the weekend.

* USC Aiken - One can only hope the weather was nice in the Tampa Bay area over the weekend, as the Pacers had little on-field success against NCAA Division II No. 2 Tampa. USCA hit .204 and was outscored 21-4 in the series.  Josh Sharp did hit .417 (5-for-12). Six errors hurt. Hunter Steger allowed three runs - one earned - on three hits with six strikeouts in five innings in the opener.

* USC Beaufort - Unbeaten NAIA strongboy Southeastern roughed up the Sand Sharks, getting 42 hits and scoring 30 runs in three games.

* USC Lancaster - The Lancers snapped a six-game losing streak when they salvaged the finale of a four-game home-and-home series with East Georgia. Lancaster surrendered a lead late in Game 1 Sunday and couldn't rally. East Georgia took an 8-6 lead in the sixth inning of the nightcap, but USCL answered with its own three-spot and hold on.

* USC Salkehatchie - The Indians are lugging a seven-game losing streak into this week. Pitching is the biggest issue. Opponents have scored 10 runs or more in 10 of 14 losses.

So-so

* Francis Marion - The Patriots won their Conference Carolina debut behind a shutout from Halton Hardy, Belmont Abbey by working over the FMU pitching staff twice on Saturday.

* Limestone - Eleven games into his first season in Gaffney, coach Brett Harker got his first victory. Opponents scored in double figures seven times and coaxed 55 walks in the first 10 game. Four pitchers combined to allow seven hits and didn't issue any walks in Sunday's 3-2 win over Seton Hill.