Fire Ants split, fall short of Region X title

The University of South Carolina Sumter baseball team split its final two Region X games against Guilford Tech on Sunday at Riley Park, rallying for a 10-9 victory in 10 innings in the opener before falling 6-3 in the second contest.

Spartanburg Methodist College meanwhile swept Louisburg College to claim the regular-season championship.

USC Sumter scored twice in the bottom of the seventh of the opening game to force extras, then won on a wild pitch in the 10th. The Titans scored three times in the top of the sixth inning of Game 2 and held on for the victory.

USCS is now 37-17 overall and finished Region X play 19-9. The Fire Ants return to action on Saturday at Riley Park against USC Salkehatchie at 1 p.m. The two teams will then play in Allendale on Sunday beginning at 1 p.m.

The Region X Tournament starts May 7 in Kinston, N.C., where USCS will be the No. 2 overall seed.

South Carolina 9

Missouri 2

COLUMBIA — Junior outfielder Gene Cone set a school record with a 27-game hitting streak and went 5-for-5 — just a homer shy of the cycle — and drove in three runs as fourth-ranked South Carolina defeated Missouri 9-2 to sweep a 3-game SEC series.

The Gamecocks are now 33-8 and 14-4 in the SEC Carolina is in first place in the conference, one game ahead of Florida, who comes to Columbia on Friday for a 3-game set. Missouri falls to 20-21 and 4-14 in league play.

Cone’s 27-game hitting streak is the longest active streak in Division I baseball and is two shy of the longest this season by a Division I player. He scored three runs and drove in three as well to lead Carolina at the plate. Cone finished the weekend 10-for-12 at the plate with six RBI and seven runs scored vs. the Tigers.

TJ Hopkins was 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBI with John Jones 2-for-5 with a RBI and Alex Destino 3-for-5 with two RBI also.

Freshman right-hander Adam Hill earned the win and is now 6-0 on the year. He pitched 61/3 scoreless innings with just four hits allowed and one walk while striking out eight batters.

Georgia Tech 7

Clemson 6

CLEMSON — Georgia Tech jumped out to a 5-0 lead and held on for a 7-5 victory over No. 23 Clemson at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on Sunday to win the series 2-1.

Georgia Tech (27-13, 10-10 ACC) scored four runs in the first inning thanks to four run-scoring singles. After the Yellow Jackets scored a run in the top of the fourth inning, Clemson (26-14, 9-12 ACC) scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on run-scoring singles by Eli White and Andrew Cox. Seth Beer added a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning to cut Georgia Tech’s lead to 5-3, but the Tigers could get no closer.

Yellow Jacket reliever Burton Dulaney (2-3) earned the win by tossing 32/3 effective innings, allowing just one hit, one run and five walks with two strikeouts. Matthew Gorst pitched the ninth inning to record his 10th save of the season. Tiger starter Ryley Gilliam (2-1) suffered the loss.

The Tigers will take five days off for final exams before hosting Florida State in a 3-game series at Doug Kingsmore Stadium beginning on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

Citadel 6

Western Carolina 4

CHARLESTON — Former Sumter High and Sumter P-15’s standout Jacob Watcher picked up the win on the mound and former Wilson Hall standout William Kinney had a double and drove in two runs as the Citadel baseball team took its series over Southern Conference-leading Western Carolina on Sunday with a 6-4 win inside Joe Riley Park.

Watcher (5-3) went five-plus innings and allowed two earned runs on five hits with four walks and two strikeouts. Kinney went 1-for-3 with a 2-run double in the bottom of the fourth that stretched the Bulldogs’ lead to 5-0.

Offensively, The Citadel 15-26, 5-7 SoCon) finished 3-for-6 with a runner on third base and outhit the Catamounts for the second time in the series, 10-9. Jason Smith and Bret Hines both finished with two hits in the contest and Shy Phillips tallied two RBI.

From staff, local reports