State scoreboard, Saturday, April 22

Caden Grice's grand slam set
Clemson up for its third straight
ACC series win. (Clemson photo)

Player of the day: Caden Grice, Clemson, game-winning grand slam.

South Carolina 7, Florida 5 - Matthew Becker allowed two hits over five innings and Braylen Wimmer homered and drove in three runs as No. 6 South Carolina completed an SEC sweep of No. 3 Florida. With the win, the Gamecocks (34-6, 13-4)  moved into a tie with Vanderbilt for the overall and East Division leads.

Ethan Petry had a two-run double to pass Justin Smoak as the school's all-time leader in RBI by  freshman. He has 64.

Carolina struck out 12 times, but outhit the Gators 10-6 and drew nine walks while allowing three.

Florida (31-10, 11-7) got two home runs by Cade Kurland and got the potential tying run to the plate in the ninth before Chris Veach got a strikeout to end the game.

Clemson 9, N.C. State 7 - Caden Grice's first hit of the series went more than 400 feet, with his eighth-inning grand slam putting the Tigers on the path to a second consecutive win at N.C. State. The shot wiped out a 6-5 deficit and set up a third consecutive ACC series win for Clemson (24-16, 8-9) as it continues rebounding from a 2-7 start to conference play.

During its surge Clemson has climbed from 14th in the overall standings to a tie for ninth. The top 12 teams qualify for the ACC Tournament.

The Tigers scored four time in the first inning, but N.C. State (25-13, 8-11) scored three runs in the fourth and three more in the sixth to take the lead.

After Grice's shot put Clemson up 9-6, Ryan Ammons pitched the final two innings, allowing a solo homer in the ninth. It was the first save for Ammons, who began the season as the No. 1 starter but missed almost two months with an injury.

The series concludes at 2 p.m. Sunday, with Grice the scheduled starting pitcher for Clemson.

Coastal Carolina 20, Southern Mississippi 7 - Zack Beach drove in four runs and four teammates drove in three apiece as the No. 10 Chanticleers clinched a series win and dropped the No. 25 Eagles three games behind them in the Sun Belt Conference standings.

Beach, Nick Lucky and Orlando Pena homered for Coastal (26-11, 13-4). Derek Bender and Ty Dooley joined Lucky and Pena in driving in three runs apiece.

The Chanticleers had a 13-0 lead after two innings and added six more in the sixth.

Southern Miss (22-15) is tied for second place in the Sun Belt with Georgia Southern, Louisiana, Old Dominion and Troy. All are 10-7.

Coastal Carolina goes for the series sweep on Sunday. 

Wofford 13, Samford 11 - Dixon Black's 10th-inning home run gave Wofford a series-tying victory and pulled the Terriers back with a game of the Bulldogs (22-17, 8-3) in the Southern Conference standings.

The teams swapped the lead several times, with Lucas Steele and Josh Anderson hitting seventh-inning homers to give Samford an 11-10 lead. 

Trey Yunger got the Terriers (28-10, 7-4) to extra innings with a solo homer in the eighth. In the Wofford 10th, Ryan Galanie led off with his third hit and the game and was replaced on the bases by Yunger on a fielder's choice. Black then followed with his blast to left-center.

The Terriers share second place with Mercer, while VMI (6-4) is a half-game back entering Sunday's finale of home series with the Bears.

Samford and Wofford complete their series at 1 p.m. Sunday in Spartanburg.

Erskine erupts in nightcap -  Until Grice's late heroics, I was going to make Erskine's offense the player of the day. After losing Game 1 at Southern Wesleyan, 16-10, the Flying Fleet hit 12 home runs in a 40-8 runfest in the nightcap.  The 12 homers tied the NCAA Division II record for a game. Dalton Boyd, Jaisen Randolph and Ashby Smith hit two homer apiece and six teammates hit one. Five players drove in five runs and 10 scored three or more. Erskine was 36-for-67 (.537) at the plate.  Southern Wesleyan pitchers threw 301 pitches - just less than twice the 151 by Erskine.

Briefly: Braylin Marine and Henry Gibson scored three runs apiece in Game 1 as Newberry clinched the regular-season championship in the South Atlantic Conference and Tyler Chinpire pitched six solid innings in Game 2 as the Wolves completed the series sweep ... Sam Massey struck out eight in 6 2/3 innings as Charleston Southern won its seventh consecutive Big South game and moved into a third-place tie with Gardner-Webb ... Rio Foster doubled, homered twice, stole three bases and drove in five runs in Game 1 and Florence-Darlington Tech clinched the top seed for the NJCAA Region 10 Tournament with a win over Gaston College in Game 2. As regular-season champs, the Stingers get an automatic bid to the East District Tournament of the NJCAA playoffs. They will be joined there by a second Region 10 team and the champions of Regions 15 and 20 ... Cam Mitchem singled, homered and drove in four runs as Southern Wesleyan took Game 1 ...  Jeremiah Locklear struck out 11 in a complete game as USC Sumter took Game 1 and Daniel Villaran drove in four runs in the nightcap ... USC Upstate scored six runs in the first three innings and Henry Proger took a no-hitter into the seventh inning as the Spartans clinched a Big South Conference series win and remained two games behind first-place Campbell ... Dalton Reeves, Chase Hughes and Trey Fenderson homered in a seven-run first inning as Presbyterian evened its Big South Conference series with Gardner-Webb ... Oliver Zohn doubled twice, homered and drove in four runs as Lander clinched a conference series win ... J.T. Marr drove in three runs and Trey Pooser pitched into the seventh inning without allowing an earned run as College of Charleston clinched a series win  ... Brody Hopkins tripled to lead off the 10th and scored on an error as Winthrop completed a rally from an 8-0 deficit ... Adams Faucett had three hits and drove in four runs as Limestone took Game 1, but a loss in the nightcap may have cost the Saints a bid to the SAC Tournament ... Nick Leonard singled twice, homered twice and drove in five runs for Coker ...  Kye Andress and Brayden Owens homered and drove in two runs in Game 2 as Anderson clinched a conference series win ... Bluefield State snapped Columbia International's five-game winning streak ... Garret Wallace homered twice and drove in five run as East Tennessee State evened its SoCon series at The Citadel ... Columbus State extended USC Beaufort's losing streak to 12 ... Brandon Bellflower's two-run homer gave Georgia College a walk-off win over USC Aiken ... Spartanburg Methodist had just taken a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning when rain hit and washed out a scheduled doubleheader at Louisburg. Game 1 was a tie. Elliott Sanders doubled in the Pioneers' run ... 

Bluefield State 9, Columbia International 6 - Col: Justin Parish 5 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 4 K
Charleston Southern 5, Longwood 0 - Cha: Ernesto Polanco 3-3, SB, 2 RBI
Clemson 9, N.C. State 7 - Cle: Will Taylor 2B, 2 BB, 2 R, 2 RBI 

Coastal Carolina 20, Southern Mississippi 7 - Coa: Caden Bodine 2B, 2 BB, 2 R, 2 RBI
Coker 17, Carson-Newman 4 - Cok: Zack Wall 3-4, 4 RBI
College of Charleston 9, Western Carolina 2 - Cha: Luke  Wood 1B, 2 2B, 2 R, RBI
Columbus State 5, USC Beaufort 3 - Bea: Mack Cromer 1B, 2B, R
East Tennessee State 10, The Citadel 0 - Cit: Thomas Rollauer 1B, 2B
Flagler 10, Claflin 0, 7 innings - Cla: Eric Sledge 1B, SB
Florence-Darlington Tech 14, Gaston College 5, Game 1 - Flo: Rom Kellis 4-4, SB, R
Florence-Darlington Tech 8, Gaston College 1, Game 2 - Flo: Austin Windham CG, 3 H
Georgia College 2, USC Aiken 1 - Aik: Joel Haney 5.2 IP, 0 R, 5 K
Lander 10, Young Harris 5 - Lan: Connor Droze 2 2B, 3 BB, 2 RBI
Limestone 13, Catawba 5, Game 1 - Lim: Noah Love 1B, 2B, BB, R, 2 RBI
Catawba 12, Limestone 10, Game 2 - Lim: Gavin Troyer 1B, HR, 2 RBI
Newberry 10, Lenoir-Rhyne 7, Game 1 - New: Rhett Jolly 1B, BB, SB, 3 RBI

Newberry 4, Lenoir-Rhyne 1, Game 2 - New: Henry Gibson HR, BB, SB, 2 RBI
Presbyterian 13, Gardner-Webb 3 - PC: Noah Lebron 1B, 3B, 2 R
South Carolina 7, Florida 5 - USC: Dylan Brewer 2 1B, 2 2B, SB, 3 R
Southern Wesleyan 16, Erskine 10, Game 1 - Sou: Jackson Mix 4-4, 2B, HR, BB, 5 R
Erskine 40, Southern Wesleyan 8, Game 2 - Ers: 10 players w/3+ runs scored
Spartanburg Methodist 1, Louisburg 1, tie, Game 1 - Spa: Davis Wright 6 IP, 1 R, 7 K

Spring Hill 19, Benedict 3, Game 1 - Ben: Taj Bates 2B, HR, SB, 3 RBI
Spring Hill 17, Benedict 4, Game 2 - Ben: William Martinez 2-3, BB, 3 SB, R, RBI
Tusculum 19, Anderson 10, Game 1 - And: Kevin Sosa 1B, 2B, 2 BB, 3 R, RBI
Anderson 4, Tusculum 2, Game 2 - And: Austin Mercado CG, 7 K

USC Sumter 8, USC Salkehatchie 2, Game 1 - Sum: Capers Molinaroli 2 H. 2 BB, RBI

USC Sumter 18, USC Salkehatchie 3, Game 2 - Sum: Nick Petit CG, 8 K
USC Union 3, USC Lancaster 1, Game 1 - Uni: Vince Alvarez 1B, HR
USC Lancaster 8, USC Union 7, Game 2 - Lan: Kyle Markowitz 3 RBI

USC Upstate 11, Radford 1 - Up: Henry Proger W, 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 9 K

Winthrop 9, UNC Asheville 8, 10 innings - Win: Jonathan Strauss 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI

Wofford 13, Samford 11, 10 innings - Wof: Brice Martinez 3-5, 3 RBI

Canceled

Carolina University at Bob Jones, DH
Spartanburg Methodist at Louisburg, Game 2

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