State scoreboard, Friday, May 8

Zach Cowart moved the Bearcats within a win
of a bid to the NCAA Division II playoffs. (Lander photo)

Player of the day: Zach Cowart, Lander, 2-4, BB, tie-breaking 2-run HR, T9

* Regular season: No. 14 Florida State (35-14, 16-9 ACC) built a five-run lead midway through the game and got the game's final out on a bases-loaded flyout to center to take the series opener at Clemson (29-21, 8-17). John Stuetzer and Brody DeLamielleure homered for the Seminoles. In the ninth, the Tigers had a leadoff single wiped out by a double play. A walk, a singled and another walk loaded the bases, but Tryston McCladdie flied out to center to end the game. The loss, coupled with California's win over Virginia, dropped the Tigers into last place in the standings ... Walker Mitchell and Rex Watson drove in five runs apiece and No. 8 Coastal Carolina (34-15, 20-5 Sun Belt) doubled up Old Dominion (25-24, 11-14) in a series opener. Watson and Jackson Winer homered for Coastal ... Andrew Buffkin pitched a complete-game shutout as The Citadel (27-22, 8-9 SoCon) completed a doubleheader sweep of Samford (25-23, 9-8) and extended its winning streak to six games. Will Holmes (5-4) struck out 12 and allowed two runs on a hit in six innings in the opener. In Game 1, Michael Gibson had four hits - including a home run - and three RBI, while TJ Anderson had a three-run homer for the Bulldogs. In the nightcap, Jayden Williams had a grand slam and drove in five runs. ... Wofford (32-17, 10-6 SoCon) survived a three-run rally by East Tennessee State (29-18, 9-7) in the ninth inning to take the opener of their series. Logan Tribble's bunt single gave the Terriers the lead in the seventh inning and Marc Quarrie followed with a three-run double ... Parker Sweeney struck out five in 2 2/3 innings to get the win and Will Tippett drove in three runs as College of Charleston (23-25, 13-12 CAA) won the opener of a series at Elon (19-29, 10-18). Tippett's sacrifice fly in the eighth inning gave the Cougars the winning run ... Presbyterian (11-39, 7-12 Big South) scored two runs in the eighth and three in the ninth to overtake USC Upstate (23-27, 11-11) in a series opener, snapping a nine-game losing streak. Layton Hyneman drove in the winning run with a fielder's choice sacrifice bunt to end the game. Chris Torres allowed a run and struck out six in seven inning for Upstate, which had a four-game winning streak snapped ... High Point (32-17, 13-6 Big South) pulled into a first-place tie with Winthrop (30-19, 13-6) by scoring three runs in the eighth and single runs in the ninth and 10th ... Alex Marot had a two-run single, a pair of two-run homers and drew three walks as Charleston Southern (26-19, 10-9 Big South) took a series opener at Longwood (28-21, 10-9) ... Luke Vaughan hit two home runs and Justin Lebron added a three-run shot as No. 19 Alabama (33-17, 14-11 SEC) handed South Carolina (22-28, 7-18) its sixth straight loss. The Gamecocks are one loss shy of tying the school single-season record with seven games left in the season. 

Postseason

* NJCAA East District: Elijah Sanders pitched seven shutout innings and Florence-Darlington Tech (50-12) forced a winner-take-all game against Harford CC (53-6) on Saturday by winning Game 2 of the NJCAA East District Championship Series in Florence. Harford held off a ninth-inning rally by the Stingers to take the opener. The Stingers scored six runs in the third of the nightcap and took a shutout into the bottom of the eighth, when Ty Mercado hit a grand slam. Tanner Beckley, Jackson Cook and Jake Zehner had two hits apiece for the Stingers in Game 2. Down by five runs entering the bottom of the ninth of Game 1, Tech's first seven batters reached base before Harford escaped. Pat Costin's bases-loaded double scored three runs, and a bases-loaded walk pulled the Stingers within one. But Harford reliever Matthew Galli struck out the next two batters and induced a flyout to end the game. The series finale will be played Saturday at Lexington County Baseball Stadium.  Tech won a coin toss and will be the home team. The series winner advances to the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., later this month.

* Peach Belt Conference: Zach Cowart's ninth-inning homer gave Lander (35-19) the lead and the Bearcats held on to beat top seed North Georgia (41-13) in the first game of the best-of-three  Conference Championship Series.  The Bearcats took a 4-2 lead in the seventh on homers by Caden Crews and Oliver Zohn, but the Nighthawks tied the score in the bottom of the inning on solo shots by Jake Streeter and Hunter Thompson.  Crews led off the ninth with a bunt single and Cowart followed with his winning shot. Games 2 - and 3, if necessary - will be played on Saturday.

Beyond the border
*ACC: California dumped No. 23 Virginia, 7-4, to break a tie with Clemson in the standings ... Tague Davis hit two home runs, giving him an ACC single-season-record 32, and Louisville scored nine runs in the 11th to even its series with Miami ... No. 2 North Carolina stifled Pitt, 4-1 ... Drew Burress' sacrifice fly in the the 10th inning lifted No. 3 Georgia Tech over Duke, 10-9 ... Stanford scored four in the eighth to beat N.C. State, 6-5 ... In nonconference games, Wake Forest beat Western Carolina, 6-1 and Notre Dame blanked Oakland, 2-0.

* ACC standings: Georgia Tech 20-5; North Carolina 18-7; Florida State 16-9; Boston College 17-10; Miami 14-12; Wake Forest 14-13; Virginia Tech 13-14; N.C. State 12-13; Virginia 12-13; Stanford 11-14; Louisville 11-15; Notre Dame 11-16; Pitt 10-15;  Duke 9-16; California 9-16 Clemson 8-17.

* SEC: No. 5 Georgia outslugged LSU, 11-8 ... Tennessee knocked off No. 4 Texas, 5-1 ... No. 20 Ole Miss stopped No. 3 Texas A&M, 5-3 ... A ninth-inning home run lifted No. 6 Auburn past No.  11Tge Mississippi State, 5-4 ... No. 17 Arkansas whipped No. 24 Oklahoma, 12-2 ... No. 21 Florida scored five runs in the eighth and one in the ninth for a walk-off 7-6 win over Kentucky ... The Vanderbilt-Missouri game was suspended until Saturday because of fog in a 7-7 tie in the top of the ninth. Mizzou scored six runs in the eighth to take the lead before Vandy scored on the final play before the game was suspended.

* SEC standings: Georgia 19-6; Texas A&M 15-9; Texas 15-9; Auburn 15-11; Mississippi State 15-11;  Alabama 14-11; Arkansas 14-11; Florida 14-11; Ole Miss 13-12; Tennessee 12-13; Oklahoma 12-13; Kentucky 11-14; Vanderbilt 10-14; LSU 9-16; South Carolina 7-18; Missouri 4-20.

* South Atlantic Conference: Top-seeded Catawba (42-9) scored two runs in the ninth - capped by Malachi Cloud's walk-off homer - to take Game 1 of the Conference Championship Series over Wingate (37-17).

Alabama 8, South Carolina 3 - USC: KJ Scobey 1B, BB, RBI
Charleston Southern 14, Longwood 3 - Cha: Kain Collins 3-5, BB, 2 SB, 2 R, 2 RBI
Coastal Carolina 16, Old Dominion 8 - Coa: Dean Mihos 2-3, 3 BB, 4 R
College of Charleston 6, Elon 5 - Cha: Ethan Plyler 1B, 2B, BB, RS, 2 RBI

Florida State 8, Clemson 4 - Cle: Jacob Jarrell 2-3, 2 BB, 2 RBI
High Point 9, Winthrop 8, 10 innings - Win: Corey Wouters 2 2B, R, 2 RBI
Presbyterian 6, USC Upstate 5 - PC: Tyrell Williams 7 IP, ER, 5 K
The Citadel 10, Samford 4, Game 1 - Cit: Garrett Fulmer 1B, 2B, R, RBI
The Citadel 8, Samford 0, Game 2 - Cit: Jayden Williams 2-3, BB, HR, 2 R, 2 SB, 5 RBI
Wofford 7, East Tennessee State 6 - Wof: Alec Bouchard W, 7 IP, 3 R, 7 K

NJCAA Atlantic District Tournament
Dailey Field, Florence
Best-of-three
Harford CC 14, Florence-Darlington Tech 13, Game 1 - Flo: Pat Costin 1B, BB, 2 2B, 2 R, 6 RBI
Florence-Darlington 7 Tech 7, Harford CC 4 - Flo: Gabe Herold HR, 2 RBI

Series tied, 1-1

Peach Belt Championship Series
Bob Stein Stadium, Dahlonega, Ga.
Best-of-three

Lander 6, North Georgia 4 - Lan: Joshua Sanchez W, 2.1 IP, 0 H, 4 K

Lander leads series 1-0

SAC Championship Series

McCrary Park, Asheboro, N.C.
Best-of-three
Catawba 6, Wingate 5
Catawba leads series, 1-0
(13/1250)