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The diamondmen are one win away from playing for a State Championship (result)

At Home, Wednesday Night, the 23-3 Clinton Red Devil baseball team competes for the Class AAA Upper State Championship

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Upper State Wednesday Night

The Clinton High Varsity Baseball Team, 23-3, will play WEDNESDAY NIGHT (May 17) at home for the Class AAA Upper State Championship. The game with the winner of Belton-Honea Path vs Seneca (playing tonight) will begin at 5:30 p.m., because of the possibility of a second game. If Clinton wins they are the Upper State Champion; if Clinton loses there will be a second and deciding game. The winner moves on the State Championship, May 20 at the home of the Lower State Champion (Hanahan, Brookland-Cayce and Beaufort still in contention as of tonight). - CHS Athletics Photo

RECENT WINS:

Clinton HSBaseball: Clinton 11 – Pendleton 1 (5)… The Clinton Red Devil baseball team hosted Pendleton Bulldogs needing to win just 1 to clinch the District 2 Championship.

The Red Devils wasted little time in getting the lead as they scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning… Zane McClendon & Zack Fortman were both hit by a pitch to lead off the inning… Wilson Wages singled driving in the two runners… A couple of batters later, Justin Copeland had an RBI single.

The Red Devils scored 4 more runs in the 3rd inning when both Wil Stewart & Justin Copeland singled… Caleb Taylor then walked… Errors by both the Bulldog pitcher and catcher allowed 2 runs to score… Luke Young then drove in a run with a single and Bryce Young had a sacrifice fly to drive in another… Clinton scored 2 more runs in 4th inning when Harrison Moore singled driving in the 2 runs.

Pendleton scored their only run in the top of 5th… The Red Devils scored the winning runs in the bottom of the inning when Bryce Young and Zane McClendon both walked to lead off the inning…  A sacrifice bunt by Zack Fortman brought in one run and the other scored on a throwing error by the Bulldog catcher. The Red Devils outhit the Bulldogs 10-7 with Justin Copeland going 3 for 3 scoring 2 runs and driving in 1… Carson Glenn took the win going 4 innings giving up 1 earned run on 6 hits while striking out 3 and walking 3… Caleb Taylor finished the game… 

Clinton 7 – Union 6… The Red Devil baseball team traveled to Union last night to take on the Union County Yellow Jackets for the third time this season in the opening game of the Class AAA Upper State playoffs… The Red Devil had defeated the Yellow Jackets twice in their previous meetings and last night (May 11) the Red Devil won by a score of 7-6, but it was a heart stopping win as Union had runners at first and third in the bottom of the seventh inning when Justin Copeland struck out a Union batter to put down the Union rally after 2 runs had scored in the inning.

The Red Devils scored a single run in the first inning when Justin Copeland singled driving in Zack Fortman who had reached base earlier after being hit by a pitch… Union responded by scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the inning to go up 2-1.

The Red Devils came right back and scored 4 runs in the top of the second inning… Two of the runs scored when with the bases loaded and no outs, the Union shortstop made an error that allowed the runs to score… Zack Fortman singled driving Zane McLendon and the last run scored on a sacrifice bunt by Wilson Wages… Union got one of the runs back in the bottom of the inning to make the score 5-3 Red Devils.

There was no further scoring until the bottom of the sixth inning when Yellow Jackets scored another run to make it 5-4 Red Devils.

Then in the top of the seventh inning, the first two Red Devils got on base and both stole a base to put runners on second and third with no outs… Tanner Kyko scored from third (he was a pinch runner for Wil Stewart who had reached base when he was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning) on an error by the Union third baseman… Justin Copeland who moved to third on that same error and then scored when the Union pitcher balked to make it 7-4 Red Devils going into the bottom of the inning… In the bottom of the inning, the Yellow Jackets scored 2 runs after two were out and had runners at first and third when Justin Copeland put out the fire by striking out a Union batter for the third out as the Red Devils won 7-6.

The Red Devils outhit the Yellow Jackets 9-8 and both teams had 2 errors… Justin Copeland led the Red Devil offense going 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI… Zack Fortman was the only other Red Devil to have more than one hit as he went 2 for 3 with an RBI… 

Clinton 6 – Seneca 3… Early Saturday afternoon the Red Devil baseball team punched their ticket to the Class AAA Upper State Finals by taking a 6-3 win over the Seneca Bobcats at home.

◦The Red Devils wasted little time as they scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning… Zane McClendon led the inning off drawing a walk and later scored on an RBI double by Wilson Wages… Wages later scored on a two-out RBI single by Justin Copeland.

◦There was no further scoring until the top of the fourth inning when the Bobcats scored the first of their 3 runs… A couple of singles and a sacrifice accounted for that run… The Red Devil came right back in the bottom of the inning and put 3 more runs on the scoreboard to make it 5-1 Red Devils…After one out, two walks and a single loaded the bases with Red Devils… Then after a strikeout made it two outs, Wil Stewart stroked a double to right field driving in 3 runs to make it 5-1 Red Devils.

◦In the top of the fifth inning the Bobcats plated their last 2 runs using 3 singles, a walk and a sacrifice fly to do so… The Red Devils responded in the bottom of the inning scoring their last run of the game when Bryce Young singled and later after stealing second and third scored on a throwing error by the Seneca catcher to make the final score Clinton 6 – Seneca 3 as there was no further scoring in the game.

◦The Bobcats actually outhit the Red Devils 8-7 but all their hits were singles while the Red Devils had a pair of run scoring doubles in the game one by Wil Stewart and the other by Wilson Wages… Stewart went 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs while Justin Copeland went 2 for 3 with a RBI…Carson Glen picked up the win going 4⅓ innings giving up 1 earned run on 4 hits while striking out 3 and walking 2… Justin Copland finished the game giving up 2 earned runs on 4 hits while striking out 1 and walking 2…

--WLBG, Mike Hughes, Sports Report

The Upper State Championship-Winning Game:

Clinton HS

  • Clinton 11 – Seneca 1… The Red Devil baseball team hosted the Seneca Bobcats last night knowing that all they needed was one win game to move on to the SCHSL Class AAA Championship series…. The Red Devils made sure that they would not need to play a second game by scoring 8 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning as they defeated the Bobcats 11-1 to claim the Upper State Class AAA Championship.
    • The Bobcats scored their only run in the top of the first inning on a sacrifice fly and there was a Red Devil error involved in helping the runner to get into scoring position… That would be the last time the Red Devils let a runner cross home plate.
    • The Red Devils took the lead in the third inning scoring 3 runs… Luke Young led the inning off with a double and courtesy runner Tanner Kyko took his place on the base path… After a Red Devil struck out, Brett Young singled moving Kyko to third… He then scored on a sacrifice fly by Zane McLendon… Zack Fortman then doubled scoring Young and Wilson Wages singled driving in Fortman to make it 3-1 Clinton.
    • There was no further scoring until the bottom of the fifth inning where the Red Devils blew the game open sending 10 batters to the plate scoring 8 runs to end the game on the 10-run rule… In the big fifth inning McClendon, Wages, Caleb Taylor and Harrison Moore all had run scoring hits to go along with a Bobcats error and a couple of hit Red Devils.
    • The Red Devils outhit the Bobcats10-5 with Wilson Wages and Bryce Yong each getting two hits to lead the Red Devils at the plate… Wil Stewart started the game for the Red Devils and went 3⅔ innings giving up the 1 earned run on 2 hits while striking out 3 and walking none… Carson Glenn finished the game striking out 2 and walking none… 
    • Box Score here.
  • Up Next for the Red Devils…  The Red Devils will be back in action Saturday as the travel to the winner of the Lower State Championship which will be either Brookland Cayce or Hanahan and that winner is yet to be determined… The action will then shift to Clinton on Tuesday, May 23rd
  • Bracket here.
  • Spring Athletic Awards Night Postponed… Some of you Red Devil fans may have it on your calendar that the Spring Athletic Awards Night was scheduled for Wednesday, May 17th… Well because the Red Devil baseball team is playing, the Spring Athletic Awards Night has been postponed… No date has been set at this time as to when the Awards Night will be made-up… When that information becomes available, I will pass it on to you.
  • A GREAT article by Monte Dutton here.