By MONTE DUTTON

The games that begin next week mean everything, but the one played Friday night at Clinton High School was pretty darn close.

The Red Devils’ 2-0 baseball victory over Union County was pretty darn close in general.

By winning, Clinton (13-10, 6-2) won Region 4-3A for the third year in a row. If the Red Devils had lost, they would have finished third, and they would have opened the playoffs on the road next Tuesday.

Now it’s a moot point.

Since the Yellow Jackets (12-9, 5-3) lost, they must play Woodruff (10-13, 5-3) on Saturday to determine the region’s No. 2 seed. The Wolverines put Union in this predicament by winning the Thursday-night game between the two, 5-1.

Clinton’s first-round opponent is Wren (12-13), the No. 4 seed of Region 2, and the game will be played in Clinton on Tuesday evening.

The fun facts aside, the centerpiece of the victory was toiling long, hard and brilliantly on the mound. Carson Glenn, who has won, lost and saved, depending on the demands of the moment, achieved a first in the season’s most important game to date.

A complete game. The tenacious lefthander didn’t walk a soul, allowed four hits and struck out 11. The game ended on his 99^th offering, fittingly a strikeout of Union County’s Josh Brandon.

“Carson was amazing,” said his head coach, Sean McCarthy. “I was only going to [let him] go 75 pitches to have him in the first (playoff) round. … It came to the sixth inning, and he’d thrown 69 pitches, and it was close, and it was, like, he’s been dominant.

“I just made a decision to go with your dog and let him hunt. And he hunted, and it was amazing.”

“I felt strong, and my control was good,” Carson Glenn, who is bound for Spartanburg Methodist in the fall, said. “I had success throwing off-speed pitches low and outside. It was a great win for us, and it feels good to win the region again.”

Defending the state championship would feel even better.

Clinton broke out with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, and it was money in the bank. Carson Glenn – two others from the extended clan participated – retired the final six batters and struck out the side in the top of the seventh. In fact, he ended the game with five K’s in a row. He got better as the game went along, which is another habit of his.

In the first three innings, Clinton left a runner on third twice and Union did it once.

Finally, the Red Devils broke through with some two-out magic in the fourth. Catcher Luke Young coaxed a walk, but third baseman Tanner Finley struck out and right fielder Tanner Kyko grounded to the mound, but courtesy runner Owen Glenn moved up to second base on the play and to third on a wild pitch.

Second baseman Jaydon Glenn singled to left on a 2-0 pitch, driving in Owen Glenn with the run that proved enough.

It didn’t seem so at the time.

First baseman Harry Moore drove in the latter run, also with two away and also with a single to left. Center fielder Zane McLendon, whose base hit had been to right, scored. Clinton had three hits in the inning – the other by Brett Young — one to each segment of the outfield.

Union County’s Tanner Hardin didn’t sparkle as much as his counterpart, but he was strong. He gave up seven hits, walked two and fanned five. Hardin, who batted leadoff, had two of the Yellow Jackets’ four hits. B.J. Jeter lined a double, the only hit in the game that went for extra bases.

Left fielder Brett Young, Clinton’s leadoff man, was 2/3. Clinton’s five remaining base hits came from McLendon, Carson Glenn, Jaydon Glenn, Moore and Luke Young. The Red Devils got hits from three Youngs and two Glenns, and a third Glenn scored a run.

Clinton has Finleys, Tanner and Camden, too. Imagine if the Jameses and Youngers had two more sets of gunfighters in the 19^th century. Perish the thought.

The Red Devils took heavy losses from the state championship team, which won its last 18 games. It lost the first two games and was 5-5 in late March. It started the region schedule 1-2 and won the remaining five games.

“Sometimes you do your best coaching in seasons like this,” McCarthy said. “My staff has done an amazing job. We have played a really hard schedule.”

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