Mid-Carolina ends Red Devils’ playoff run with 2-0 victory
Clinton catcher Luke Young (7) fouls off a pitch during the Red Devils’ 2-0 home playoff loss to Mid-Carolina Saturday.
Mid-Carolina ended Clinton’s baseball playoff run Saturday afternoon, defeating the Red Devils 2-0 and eliminating them from the Upper State round of the Class 2A playoffs.
Clinton ended its season with a 21-8 record and the Class 2A Upper State District 1 championship.
“I thought at times we over-achieved, for sure, ut I also thought we under-achieved at times because you see the potential and what could possibly be there,” said first-year head coach Peyton Spangler. “But it was a great year for me and learning how to be a head coach and operating because we faced so much adversity.
“It seemed like every game had weather; every game there were bad calls and unfortunate breaks; and we somehow stayed together and just kept fighting until the very last pitch. As a coach, that’s what, as a coach, as long as your team’s fighting and believing then you feel pretty good about your chances.”
Three of Clinton’s eight losses this season came to Region 3-2A foe Mid-Carolina, but the third and final one was the most costly for the Red Devils.
Luke Young (7) and Brett Young embrace after their final high school game together Saturday.
Mid-Carolina senior sidewinder Kaden Myers, a College of Charleston commit, limited Clinton to three hits in the complete game shutout, striking out 10 and walking three.
Myers out-dueled Red Devils starter Zack Lawson and Jaydon Glenn, who combined to allow seven hits. The duo issued six walks and recorded five strikeouts. Glenn, who came on in the fifth inning and finished the game, also hit two batters and Lawson one.
Lawson worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second, and Glenn retired the side with the bases loaded in the fifth.
The Rebels (22-7) pushed across a run in the fourth inning and added another in the seventh.
Gage Hunter’s RBI double to left field scored Banks Fellers in the fourth as Mid-Carolina took a 1-0 lead.
Myers led off the seventh with a double and later scored on Cade Moore’s ground-out.
The Red Devils will lose three seniors – one starter – to graduation this year. Outfielder Brett Young, catcher Jared Willard and
Mid-Carolina is set to face Batesburg-Leesville Monday. The winner of that game will play Strom Thurmond for the Class 2A Upper State championship.
