It all worked out rather nicely in hindsight.

Four nights earlier, Clinton had opened awfully in its second playoff baseball game, coming from six runs behind to win, 7-6, over Wren. The Red Devils awakened dramatically to a wake-up call.

Thus chastened, the Red Devils pounded Pendleton, 11-1, on Monday night in a game ended after five innings on account of too big a lead. It was a bit testy at first but then not testy at all.

The statistics were narrower, the score wider, which is an efficient method of winning.

Led by a 3-3 night’s work at the plate by Justin Copeland and a line of deuces – 2 at-bats, 2 runs, 2 hits, 2 RBI – on Wil Stewart’s line, the Red Devils rang all the bells and tooted most of the whistles.

It was another determined effort by winning pitcher Carson Glenn, who was all good pitches and needing them. The lefty gave up six hits in four innings, walked three and fanned the same, but the only run he yielded was when it didn’t matter much anymore.

Caleb Taylor finished with a shutout fifth. He didn’t get a save. The potential tying run was on the JV team.

Whether by want or will, not a lot went right for Pendleton (12-15) nor wrong for Clinton (21-3).

Jayden Branson and Matthew Slaton, in the heart of the Bulldogs’ roster, each went 2-2, but Pendleton couldn’t provide much help in advancing them on the bases they got on.

Brantley Major suffered the loss. The good news was that he struck out six and just walked one. The bad news was everything else.

The Red Devils are at their best when playing tricks, and they were seldom foiled. Clinton scored three runs in the first inning, four in the third, two in the fourth and the two in the fifth that ended it with two outs to spare.

Glenn worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first. He fanned the final two.

Major hit the first two Clinton batters of the game. Perhaps he figured, that’ll show ‘em. Quite the contrary. Wilson Wages singled. Stewart singled. Copeland singled. Caleb Taylor singled. The Bulldogs were too stunned to bark.

After giving up a leadoff single, Glenn struck out the next three in the Pendleton second. It was his only easy inning. Then Pendleton’s Major had his only easy inning.

Another bases-loaded jam ended when Glenn picked off Pendleton’s John Peeples – a rundown ensued — with two away. The other Pendleton baserunners stayed put.

Then the dam in front of the kennel burst.

In the four-team bracket that determines the Class 3A Upstate champion, after three straight playoff wins at home, the Red Devils must travel to Union County, which they defeated twice en route to the Region 4 title, on Thursday at 6. Four teams – the Red Devils, Yellow Jackets, Belton-Honea Path and Seneca – are now district champions, and previous seedings don’t matter. The bracket is written out in advance, and that’s that.

Clinton has won 13 straight games, dating back to a 7-6 win versus Chapman, which had hammered the Devils the night before, on March 30.

Offense ran the gamut, complete with three batters hit, both of baseball’s sacrificial rites, and six, count ‘em six, stolen bases.

The Pendleton team likely rode home feeling as if it could’ve done better and probably deserved to. Too many mistakes on the bases, errors (3) and assorted crucial failures haunted the Bulldogs.

Clinton just hit ‘em before they got the sirens turned on.