State scoreboard, Friday, April 21

Evan Truitt set a career high for strikeouts
during his six-inning relief stint.
(Charleston Southern photo)

Player of the day: Evan Truitt, Charleston Southern, W, 6 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 10 K

* USC 5, Florida 2 - Cole Messina and Ethan Petry homered in the first two innings and No. 6 South Carolina (33-6, 12-4) held on to beat No. 3 Florida (31-9, 11-6) and clinch a postseason resume-enhancing SEC series win. The win, coupled with Vanderbilt's extra-inning loss at Tennessee,  moved the Gamecocks one game behind the Commodores in the SEC East Division. Messina's two-run homer in the first inning offset Jac Caglianone's nation's-best 23rd homer in the top of the inning. Petry 's 20th homer of the season - a three-run shot - gave USC starter Jack Mahoney (4-1) a big early lead to work with. The series is to conclude at 2 p.m. Saturday in Columbia.  

* Clemson 10, N.C. State 2 - Billy Amick singled, doubled, homered twice and drove in five runs as the Tigers took the opener of an ACC series in Raleigh. Amick's three-run shot in the first capped a two-out rally and gave Tigers starter Ethan Darden (3-2) an early working margin. Cooper Ingle added a two-run homer in the third and Amick's two-run blast in the seventh made the score 10-1. Darden allowed one run over six innings for the Tigers (23-16, 7-9) who snapped the Wolfpack's five-game winning streak. N.C. State fell to 25-12, 8-10. Game 2 of the series has been moved to 7 p.m. Saturday because of weather issues. 

* Coastal Carolina 15, Southern Mississippi 7 - Derek Bender homered twice and drove in five runs as the No. 10 Chanticleers  (25-11, 12-4) topped the 24th-ranked Eagles (22-14, 10-6) to open an important Sun Belt Conference series in Conway.  The win, coupled with Louisiana's loss to James Madison, stretched the Chanticleers lead over the Eagles and Ragin' Cajuns to two games. Georgia Southern, Old Dominion, Texas State and Troy are another game back at 9-7. Saturday's Game 2 has been moved up to noon because of weather concerns on the Grand Strand. 

* Samford 3, Wofford 2 - The SoCon-leading Bulldogs (22-16, 8-2) used three consecutive hits in the sixth inning to score two runs and held on to take a two-game lead over the Terriers (27-10, 6-4) in the standings. Mercer (7-4 SoCon) moved a half game ahead of Wofford by splitting a doubleheader at VMI (6-4), which moved into a third-place tie with the Terriers. Samford's Jacob Cravey pitched a complete game striking out 10. Wofford's Ryan Galanie was held without a hit for just the sixth time in 36 games this season.

* Newberry 9, Lenoir-Rhyne 3 - Rhett Jolly had three hits and drove in four runs as Newberry took the opener of a South Atlantic Conference series and eliminated Lenoir-Rhyne from the title picture. The Wolves lead Wingate by 1 1/2 games, Catawba by two games and Carson Newman by 2 1/2 games with the season ending on Sunday. LR is 2 1/2 games back, but can't catch Newberry.  The Wolves can clinch the top seed for next week's conference tournament with one win in Saturday's doubleheader ... 

Briefly: Travis Lott's two-run homer in the eighth inning lifted The Citadel to victory behind a complete game by Sam Swygert in the opener of a SoCon series ... Jackson Hannon was 3-for-4 with a double,  a walk, two stolen bases, two runs scored and two RBI as USC Aiken moved percentage points ahead of Young Harris for the Peach Belt Conference lead ... Cole Caruso had two hits and drove in three runs as USC Upstate took the opener of a Big South Conference series ... Ty Good and William Privette combined on a 14-strikeout one-hitter for College of Charleston in Game 1 of a nonconference series ... Jared Payne's two-run single in the seventh inning sparked Charleston Southern to its sixth consecutive Big South Conference win ... Anderson scored three unearned runs in the ninth to take the opener of a South Atlantic Conference series ...  Lucas Martino had three hits - including a homer - and drove in five runs as Lander pounded No. 11 Young Harris ... Ashby Smith was 4-for-4 with two doubles, a homer and a walk to drive in six runs as Erskine took a series opener at Southern Wesleyan for its fifth straight win ... Winthrop built an early 5-1 lead and held on in the opener of a Big South Conference series ... Mount Olive scored a pair of walk-off wins over Francis Marion in Conference Carolinas play ... A 19-run fifth inning put Carolina University in control against Bob Jones as the Bruins lost their 11th straight ... Trevor Mattison's three-run homer gave Gardner-Webb the edge in a series opener at Presbyterian ... Bluefield State wrapped up a series sweep of Morris ... Catawba snapped Limestone's six-game SAC winning streak ... USC Beaufort's losing streak reached 11 games ...

Anderson 9, Tusculum 7 - And: Anthony Pandolfi2-3, 2 BB, R, 2 RBI
Bluefield State 15, Morris 4, Game 1 - Mor: Bravion Rose 2-3, RBI
Bluefield State 11, Morris 1, Game 2 - Mor: Tijawan Black 3-4, 2B, R, RBI
Carolina University 26, Bob Jones 9 - BJU: Lance Kamden 1B, 3B, 2 R, 3 RBI
Catawba 13, Limestone 11 - Lim: Turner Davis 2B, HR, 3 BB, 2 R, 4 RBI

Charleston Southern 7, Longwood 4 - Cha: Ike George HR, 2 BB, 2 R
Clemson 10, N.C. State 2 - Cle: Benjamin Blackwell 3-4, SB, R, 2 RBI

Coastal Carolina 15, Southern Mississippi 7 - Coa: Peyton Eeles 1B, 2B, BB, SB, R, 4 RBI

College of Charleston 2, Western Carolina 0 - Cha: Cole Mathis, 2B, 2 BB, RBI
Columbus State 11, USC Beaufort 1 - Bea: Brock Thibodeaux 3-3, BB
Erskine 18, Southern Wesleyan 7 - Ers: Jude Littrell 1B, 3B, SB, 2 RBI
Flagler 6, Claflin 0 - Cla: Alvee Fulwood 1-3

Gardner-Webb 6, Presbyterian 2 - PC: Brody Fahr 3-4, 2B, R
Lander 11, Young Harris 5 - Lan: Chris Manriquez HR, 2 RBI
Mount Olive 5, Francis Marion 4, Game 1 - Fra: Caleb Oakley 2-4, BB, 2 R
Mount Olive 8, Francis Marion 7, Game 2 - Fra: Tanner Wakefield 1B, HR, 2 RBI
Newberry 9, Lenoir-Rhyne 3 - New: Kade Faircloth 1B, 3B, 2 R, RBI
Samford 3, Wofford 2 - Wof: Cameron Gill 2-2, BB, SB, R
South Carolina 5, Florida 2 - USC: Eli Jones 3 IP, 0 R, 4 K
The Citadel 3, East Tennessee State 1 - Cit: Wells Sykes 3-4, RBI

USC Upstate 8, Radford 2 - Up: Reese Dutton W, 6 IP, 5 K, 1 R, 7 K

USC Aiken 8, Georgia College 2 - Aik: Jacob Fletcher W, 6.1 IP, 1 R, 6 K
Winthrop 5, UNC Asheville 3 - Win: McKinley Erves HR, 2 RBI

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