By MONTE DUTTON

Clinton High School has yet to lose in the Class 3A baseball playoffs. Come to think of it, neither of the public schools in Laurens County has.

The fourth playoff win in a row – 6-3 over Seneca on Saturday – puts the Red Devils a win – in two chances – away from the Upstate championship. The Bobcats take on Belton-Honea Path on Monday, and the winner comes back to Clinton on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., needing to beat the Red Devils twice.

Clinton (23-3) has won 15 games in a row. It’s no hotter than the sun was in the afternoon heat. For May, it was a scorcher.

In fact, head coach Sean McCarthy thinks the Red Devils can get hotter yet.

“We’re just riding that wave of ebb and flow, and we’ll see how it goes,” he said. “(Carson) Glenn pitched his butt off, and we made some big plays when we had to. … We did a lot of things well.

“I’d like to see us firing on the same cylinders we did. I don’t think we hit the ball in either game (including a 7-6 win at Union County on Thursday). We’ve manufactured a lot … I think we’ve still got a lot better baseball in us.”

Glenn, a southpaw, gets bruised but seldom battered. He pitched 4-1/3 innings, allowing four hits and a run, walking two and striking out three. Justin Copeland, also a lefty, got off to a rocky start but pitched the final 2-2/3 innings for his second save in as many games.

The blast, however, was of the opposite-field variety, off the bat of first baseman Wil Stewart with two out in the bottom of the fourth and the bases loaded with Bryce Young, Zane McLendon and Zach Fortman, all of whom scored while Stewart was standing on second with a double.

“It was just a situation where we prepared all year,” Stewart said. “Line drive, middle, it ended up being [outside], and I hit it where it was pitched. My teammates got on base for me, and glory to God for giving me the ability to hit it.”

Seneca had one more hit (8-7) but all the Bobcat’s safeties were singles, and Clinton got doubles from Stewart and center fielder Wilson Wages, who drove in the first run of the game in the first. Copeland followed with a single up the middle, scoring Wages.

Luke McGuffin – there is a word “McGuffin” that means the device or object that triggers the plot of a movie – took the loss. He gave up the two first-inning runs and took the loss. Zack Leroy and Carson Bay each had two hits for the Bobcats.

Stewart and Copeland, who stole three bases, each had two hits for the Red Devils.

After Seneca scored two runs in the fourth inning to pull within two — Leroy singled in Bay and Joey McGovern drove in Coltyn Hawk with a sacrifice play – Clinton got one back when Bryce Young who had singled, stole third and scored on an error by Seneca catcher Kodie Long.