State scoreboard, Saturday, May 16

Ethan McAnally's first pitching start of the year helped
the Patriots advance to the Super Regional. (Francis Marion photo)

Player of the day: Ethan McAnally, Francis Marion, 3-5, SB, R, 2 RBI, W, 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 K

* NCAA Division I: Luke Gaffney's three-run homer highlighted a five-run third inning and Clemson (31-25, 10-20 ACC) held off Virginia Tech (29-23, 15-15) to salvage the series finale and assure itself of the 15th seed for the ACC Tournament. The Tigers will play Notre Dame on Tournament ... Lane Tobin hit a pair of homers and drove in four runs as The Citadel (30-24, 11-10 SoCon) completed a sweep of  VMI (28-26, 3-18). The teams are rematched in the first round of the SoCon Tournament ... Louisiana (34-21, 16-14 Sun Belt) scored two runs in the fifth and held on to beat No. 20 Coastal Carolina (36-19, 21-9). Coastal's loss, coupled with Southern Mississippi's win over Georgia Southern, gave the Golden Eagles the regular-season championship and made the Chanticleers the No. 2 seed for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament ... South Carolina (22-34, 7-23 SEC) got its only four hits in a three-run second inning, but Vanderbilt (32-24, 14-16) scored five runs in the fifth to send the Gamecocks to their 12th straight loss. Carolina plays Tennessee on Tuesday in the SEC Tournament ... Nick Diaz singled and homered to drive in four runs as College of Charleston (28-26, 18-12 CAA) wrapped up a sweep of William & Mary (21-32, 12-18) ...  Alan Benhardt and Ethan Wilson had two-RBI hits in the sixth inning and Winthrop (33-22, 15-9 Big South) beat Longwood (29-24, 11-13) ... Garrison Barile walked, singled, homered and drove in four runs as Charleston Southern (29-21, 13-11 Big South) closed out the regular season by rallying past Radford (25-24, 12-12) ... Brady Small's three-run homer gave USC Upstate (29-27) the lead in the sixth inning and Jacob Kirby's solid four-inning relief outing allowed the Spartans to overtake Northern Kentucky (25-28) and end the regular season on a six-game winning streak ... Samford (28-24, 12-9 SoCon) scored eight runs in the first two innings and five in the seventh to complete a run-rule win over Wofford (34-20, 12-9) and pass the Terriers for the third seed in the SoCon Tournament ... Gardner-Webb (25-30, 10-14 Big South) scored five runs in the third inning en route to taking the series finale over Presbyterian (12-44, 8-16).

* NCAA DII Southeast Regional: Francis Marion (45-12) scored the game's first eight runs and held off North Greenville (49-12) to win the Tigerville bracket.  Zander Buchan, Charlie Bussey III and Will Dorrell homered for coach Jeff Jefferson's squad. The Patriots advance to play Catawba in the best-of-three Super Regional next weekend. Games are at 6 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, if necessary, in Newman Park in Salisbury, N.C. That winner qualifies for the Division II World Series in Cary, N.C. Earlier Saturday, Thomas Powell's two-run single in the third inning gave North Greenville the lead and the Trailblazers eliminated North Georgia (42-16). Powell had two hits in the win and four in the loss to Francis Marion.

Beyond the border
* ACC: No. 2 Georgia Tech pounded No. 23 Boston College, 15-2, to complete a series sweep ... N.C. State took the series finale from No. 2 North Carolina, 7-2 ... Miami avoided a sweep at No. 11 Florida State, 7-4 ... Louisville downed Virginia, 10-5 ... Notre Dame ripped Pitt, 21-10 ... Duke scored five runs in the eighth to avoid a sweep by Wake Forest, 7-3 ... California get a series win over Stanford, 2-1.
* ACC standings: Georgia Tech 25-5; North Carolina 22-8; Florida State 19-11; Boston College 17-13; Miami 16-14; Wake Forest 16-14; Virginia Tech 15-15; Virginia 14-16; N.C. State 14-16; Stanford 13-17; Louisville 13-17; Notre Dame 13-17; California 12-18; Pitt 11-19; Clemson 10-20; Duke 10-20.

* SEC: No. 5 Auburn whipped No. 4, Georgia, 14-4, to avoid a sweep ... No. 10 Texas A&M edged No. 13 Mississippi State, 7-6 ... No. 6 Texas beat Missouri, 12-7, to clinch the second seed ... No. 18 Alabama took the rubber game over No. 15 Ole Miss, 6-2 ... No. 19 Florida completed a sweep of LSU, 15-11 ... Tennessee beat Oklahoma, 9-4, in the completion of Friday's suspended game, but the Sooners took the schedule game, 12-9 ...No. 10 Arkansas scored 10 runs in the first, but needed to score the final four runs of the game to beat Kentucky, 16-12.
* SEC standings: Georgia 24-6; Texas 19-10; Texas A&M 18-11; Alabama 18-12; Florida 18-12;  Auburn 17-13; Arkansas 17-13; Mississippi State 16-14; Ole Miss 15-15; Tennessee 15-15; Oklahoma 14-16; Vanderbilt 14-16; Kentucky 13-17; LSU 9-21; South Carolina 7-23; Missouri 6-24.

Charleston Southern 10, Radford 7 - Cha: Caden Wolfley 2-4, BB, 3 R

Clemson 10, Virginia Tech 8 - Cle: Jack Crighton 3-5, HR, 2 RBI
College of Charleston 12, William & Mary 2, 7 innings - Cha: Will Tippett 3-3, HR, 3 RBI

Louisiana 3, Coastal Carolina 2 - Coa: Dean Mihos 1B, 3B, 2 RBI
Gardner-Webb 9, Presbyterian 2 - PC: Amman Dewberry 1B, HR, 2 RBI

Samford 13, Wofford 3, 7 innings - Wof: Niko Brini 1B, 3B, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI
The Citadel 12, VMI 7 - Cit: Sam Dansky 2B, BB, 2 SB, 3 R, 2 RBI
USC Upstate 10, Northern Kentucky 9 - Up: Henry Zenor 3-4, 2B, BB, 2 R, 2 RBI
Vanderbilt 5, South Carolina 3 - USC: Cooper Parks 3.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, 3 K

Winthrop 11, Longwood 5 - Win: Chazz Grossington 1B, HR, 2 BB, 4 R, 3 RBI
end regular season

NCAA Division II Southeast Regional
Ray & Bea Dillard Field, Tigerville
North Greenville 7, North Georgia 3 - NGv: Ben Leikam W, 4 IP, H, R, 3 BB, 3 K
North Georgia eliminated
Francis Marion 11, North Greenville 8 - Fra: Jimmy Koza 3-4, R, 2 RBI
Francis Marion advances to play at Catawba 

Newman Park, Salisbury, N.C.

Young Harris 14, Wingate 3
Wingate eliminated
Catawba 6, Young Harris 4

Catawba advances to host super regional
(12/1310)