By MONTE DUTTON

A brief synopsis of Wednesday night’s baseball game at Clinton High School, won by the Red Devils, 11-1:

Run-run-run-run-run-run-run-run-run-run-run-run rule.

This is, of course, overly simplistic. Why, Seneca scored first and led until the bottom of the third inning, which catcher Luke Young led off with a double. Brett Young laid down an almost perfect bunt that tailed foul most of the way to third base. He then struck out, and second baseman Bryce Young perfected the same bunt. First baseman Zane McLendon tied the score with a sacrifice fly, and shortstop Zach Fortman doubled down the left-field line, driving in Bryce Young. Then center fielder Wilson Wages singled to center, and Fortman scored.

They got plenty of help, but the inning belonged to the Youngs.

The Class 3A Upstate championship belonged to Clinton.

The fifth inning belonged to 10 Red Devils who stood on one side of home plate or the other and produced a game-ending eight runs, five hits, one error, two hit by pitches and one walked.

The first two batters, Bryce Young and McLendon, doubled, as did Harrison Moore, who drove in three several slots down the order, and the only out was the sacrifice fly by Brett Young that ended it.

“They don’t care who gets the credit,” Clinton head coach Sean McCarthy said. “They’re so close.”

A sacrifice fly, by Zack LeRoy, was responsible for the only Seneca (17-11) run. Carson Bay rapped a pair of hits for the Bobcats, who fell to the Red Devils for the second time in four days.

Six of Clinton’s 11 hits stretched into extra bases. Five were doubles. Left fielder Justin Copeland’s was a fourth-inning triple. Wages and Bryce Young each had two hits. Wages and Moore each drove in three.

“I was happy to see the ball hit the gaps for the first time in a few games,” McCarthy said. “They don’t have any quit in them. Now we’ll go practice hard and get ready for the next day.”

That day is Saturday, when Clinton (24-3) takes on either Hanahan or Brookland-Cayce on the road for the first game of the best-of-three state championship series. The Red Devils have not won a state championship since 1961. The Low Country final was suspended by weather on Wednesday.

Wil Stewart was the winning pitcher, pitching 3-2/3 innings and allowing two hits and a run. He struck out three. Carson Glenn pitched the rest of the way, giving up three hits with two strikeouts. Neither walked a batter.

Seneca’s three hurlers – Bay took the loss – combined to allow 11 hits and nine earned runs.

Clinton has won 16 consecutive games and has not lost since March 29. In six playoff games, the Red Devils have scored 11 runs three times, seven runs twice and six in the other.

“It’s a team game,” third baseman Caleb Taylor, who was 1-3, said. “Everybody’s got to sit together.”