By MONTE DUTTON

Will wonders never cease? Not on Wednesday night for the Laurens Raiders, who have come from behind repeatedly in the early part of the Region 1-4A baseball schedule.

After falling behind, 7-1, Tristan Buzbee singled in Jireh Brown with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning, producing an 8-7 Laurens victory.

With one out, facing an 0-2 count, Brown singled on a ground ball to Wren second baseman Collin McCaffery, whose hurried throw enabled Brown to sprint to second.

Buzbee then singled to left off losing pitcher David Whitmore for an unearned winning run. Whitmore pitched 2-2/3 innings, allowing four hits with a walk and two strikeouts.

What’s more, Buzbee was the winning pitcher, inheriting a six-run deficit in the third inning that the Raiders quickly rectified.

The early innings were not pretty. Only two of the seven runs charged Laurens starter Noah Hughes were earned.

The Raiders and Hurricanes combined to commit eight errors, five by Laurens.

A second straight come-from-behind victory over Wren – the teams play again in Piedmont on Friday – left Laurens at 7-4 overall, 4-1 in region play, while the Hurricanes fell to 8-4 and 2-3.

Each team scored a run in the first inning.

Wren exploded with six runs in the top of the third, beginning with McCaffery’s leadoff double. Carson Bryant’s single advanced McCaffery to third base. An error allowed McCaffery to score, and after Bolton Pritchard singled, another error scored Shep Winkopp, who had reached on the first error. A third error brought Pritchard home. Subsequent runs scored on a passed ball and a double by Cooper Sanders.

Fast forward to the bottom of the fourth, when the Raiders scored six runs, all with two out. Buzbee tripled, driving in Avery Madden, who had reached on an error. Buzbee scored on Brayden Patterson’s single. Zay Pulley then singled. Ben Willis’s double drove in two more, and after Bennett Edwards was walked intentionally, Logan Martin’ walked.

Willis scored on a wild pitch, and Laurens tied the score on Coleman Coker’s infield single.

There the two teams remained, tied at 7, until the decisive seventh.

The starting pitchers were similarly unfortunate. Wren’s Jake Hart allowed seven unearned runs, though he wasn’t entirely blameless as he allowed eight hits and three walks in 3-2/3 innings.

Buzbee and Pulley each had three hits for Laurens, while Coker had two.

Meanwhile, in Greenville, Laurens (6-4) came from behind in softball, too, rallying past J.L. Mann, 13-7.

The Raiders scored eight runs in the top of the seventh inning. Addy Carlisle, Carly Edwards and Addison Trevino had the key hits.

In the circle, Summer Nations struck out 12 in 5-2/3 innings of relief. Myleigh Robertson started for Laurens.

Carlisle and Makayden Livingston each had three of the Raiders’ 16 hits, all singles. Edwards, Zealy Martin and Robertson each collected two.

Olivia Pruitt had three hits for the Patriots.

Presbyterian’s three-game win streak in baseball came to a predictable end as the sixth-ranked Clemson Tigers handed the Blue Hose a 9-1 setback.

Presbyterian (12-14) had scored 37 runs in three Big South victories over Gardner-Webb.

Clemson (24-4) piled up three doubles and a homer among their 10 hits.

Rhogue Wallace, who doubled, Matthew Rollison, Brody Linker and Nick Smith had the PC hits.

Jarren Purify and Tryston McCladdie each had two of the Tigers’ nine hits. Luke Gaffney belted a two-run homer and drove in four runs, lofting two sacrifice flies.

Presbyterian and College of Charleston played a pair of one-run softball games in Mount Pleasant, with the Blue Hose winning the former, 4-3, and the Cougars the latter, 7-6.

Chance Fitzgerald (3-0), the second of four Clemson hurlers, was the winning pitcher. The first of nine who took the mound for PC, Luke Gibson (0-1), took the loss.

Junior Peyton Duncan tossed all eight frames in the come-from-behind PC victory, her 10^th win, thanks to six strikeouts..

Presbyterian (19-16) attempted a comeback in the nightcap, trailing by three going into their last at-bat, but fell short in spite of a two-out, two-run double from freshman Audrey Burton.

Chester (5-1, 3-0 Regions 3-2A) defeated Clinton (3-7, 0-4), 7-4, in softball on Tuesday, after Ninety Six outpaced the Red Devils, 12-3, on Monday.

As of Thursday, baseball is in full bloom. The Dodgers took two from the Mets last week, but that was in Tokyo and early in the morning back in the States.

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