County signs: Clinton baseball opens with loss


Brett Young
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Saturday seemed awfully strange at Templeton Center because the Blue Hose weren’t playing basketball there. On most Saturdays in Big South play, either the men or women are at home, with the other playing the same school on the road. The previous Saturday, both were at home.

With the conference schedule roaring down the stretch, PC got the weekend off. Both play on most Wednesdays and Saturdays. On this Saturday, both had conference-assigned byes.

Other Blue Hose teams were quite active.                          

Meanwhile, Clinton High lost its first baseball game at a tournament in Greenwood, which, since the Red Devils are coming off a Class 3A state championship, meant the end of an 18-game winning streak.

Airport jumped on the Red Devils with runs in the first four innings – the crusher was six in the third – and crunched Clinton, 11-2.

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As they say, it’s early.

Carson Glenn, whose three runs allowed were all unearned, pitched the first two innings and took the loss. Four more followed him to the mound.

Left fielder Brett Young and first baseman Harrison Moore collected the only hits, both singles. Shortstop Bryce Young and Finley scored the runs. Moore and Jaydon Glenn drove them in.

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The Red Devils committed three errors.

Three of the Eagles’ nine hits were doubles by Cam Atkins, Shane Hanna and Brice Gillette. Atkins drove in three. Gillette scored that many.

Miller Harrelson was the winning pitcher.

Joel Dragoo homered again. (PC photo)
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Tanner Smith shut down Saint Joseph’s in the top of the 10th inning, and Ryan Ouzts led off the bottom half with a single and scored the winning run on a wild pitch to lift Presbyterian to a 3-2 baseball victory over the Hawks on Saturday.

Center fielder Joel Drago belted his fifth home run of the season in the fifth inning off Saint Joseph’s starter Ryan DeSanto. It was the only run DeSanto allowed.

St. Joseph’s (2-1) took the lead in the sixth on shortstop Ryan Weingartner’s two-run blast.

The pitchers of record were both Smiths.

Tanner Smith (1-0) struck out two of the three Saint Joseph’s batters he faced. The Hawks’ Luke Smith (0-1) pitched three-plus innings and was charged the winning run, which scored with Alex Rodriguez on the mound.

In the eighth inning, Rhogue Wallace tripled and tied the game on an error by Hawks catcher Carter Jagiela.

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Weingartner of the Hawks and Wallace of the Blue Hose were the only player in the game to collect a pair of hits.

In addition to seven hits by Saint Joseph’s and six by PC, the game included four hit batters, two errors (both by the visitors) and a double play (also by the visitors). The Blue Hose left 10 on base.

Take a look at the box here.

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Things did not go so well for the Blue Hose in the third game of the home series against separate opponents. Quinnipiac broke open a batting derby with five eighth-inning runs in a 14-8 victory on Sunday.

Each of Presbyterian’s five pitchers gave up at least a run.

Quinnipiac center fielder Jared Zimbardo went 4/6 with a triple, three runs scored and three runs batted in. Keegan O’Connor, the catcher, scored three, drove in four, collected three hits and homered.

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The PC bats weren’t quiet, either. Joel Dragoo doubled and drove in four with a three-hit day. Third baseman Aaron Hobson also rapped three hits for Presbyterian (5-3).

Matt Alduino (1-0) got the decision for Quinnipiac (1-5). Jeffrey Hays (0-1) took the loss.

Take a look at the box here.

Men’s tennis won the doubles point, and David Mamalat and Pedro Cardoso recorded singles wins but the Blue Hose suffered a 4-3 defeat to the Chattanooga Mocs (5-6) on the road Saturday afternoon.  

Presbyterian (4-4) won at numbers 1-2 to capture the doubles point.

Georgia State (3-6) defeated PC (6-7) in women’s tennis, 5-2, in Atlanta.

The Panthers won four of the six singles matches to claim victory. Presbyterian’s Claudia Sanchez got the Blue Hose on the board with a 6-4, 6-4 win at number three singles, and McKenzie Davis pulled her match at No. 1, in a third-set tiebreaker, 10-8.

Presbyterian lacrosse had a lead relatively late but wound up falling, 15-11, to Xavier in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Musketeers scored the final seven points after the Blue Hose led, 10-8, with 16 minutes remaining.

The PC acrobatics and tumbling team (1-1) defeated Talladega (Ala.) College by the as-always unwieldy score of 230.325-97.325 in Clinton on Sunday.    

At least one story has been posted for 43 days, a record for the site.

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