By MONTE DUTTON)

The Laurens Raiders finished off the regular season with a tense, 5-4, victory over Wren in which neither team scored after the second inning.

Laurens (6-20) lost massively to graduation after contending for Class 4A state titles in consecutive seasons. They have an excellent feeder system from the ninth-grade and junior-varsity ranks. When I saw them play, I thought they’d have a break-even season or thereabouts in Region 1. They wound up 6-8, but three of the wins were forfeits over Southside, which forfeited three to every other region school, too.

I saw a lot of bad teams – every team in Region 3-2A except Clinton and Mid-Carolina – and didn’t ever consider Laurens to be one of them.

The biggest weakness was a pitching staff that often couldn’t throw strikes. Lefthander Ryland Paxton only allowed two hits in 4-2/3 innings on Friday night, but he worked around nine walks.

Wren (19-7, 11-4) led, 4-0, until the Raiders’ five-run third inning.

It was a big night – and season – for Laurens County’s Logans. Martin and Bragg each had two hits for the Raiders. Johnson is Clinton’s promising eighth-grade shortstop.

Braden Yarbrough led Laurens with two RBI.

The Hurricanes left runners on base in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Reliever William Nunley kept them at bay.

Greyson Austin and Colton Motley each had two of Wren’s four hits.

Laurens Academy (12-6) stayed on the SCISA playoff march, winning 9-0 at Andrew Jackson (Ehrhardt) (8-7) behind Riley Whittaker’s three-hit shutout.

Whittaker struck out five and walked only one as the Crusaders scored two runs in the fourth inning, three in the fifth and four in the sixth. Right fielder George Sherer rapped three singles, scoring three runs and driving in two. Left fielder Wyatt Little went 2/3.

Elias Littleton, Whittaker and Little all ripped doubles.

Amman Dewberry’s 10^th home run, a solo blast in the sixth inning, was a bright spot in Presbyterian’s 7-2 loss to The Citadel (23-22) at Elton Pollock Field on Friday.

The series reverses sites on Saturday when the teams play in Charleston at noon. They return to Clinton for the third game on Sunday at 1.

Will Holmes (4-4) won over Tyrell Williams (1-3).

PC (10-36) has dropped six of its last seven games.

The Blue Hose did, however, clinch a berth in the Big South softball tournament by splitting a doubleheader against USC Upstate. Presbyterian (20-29, 8-9) won the first game, 3-0, and fell, 10-7, in the latter.

Peyton Duncan (12-13) blanked the Spartans on five hits in game one. Left fielder Morgan Farthing went 2/3 at the plate. Baxleigh Arnette’s homer drove in two in the seventh inning.

Ella Christopher went 3/4 for Upstate (32-21, 11-6) in the second game. The series wraps with a 2:30 game on Saturday at the Spartans’ Cyrill Stadium.

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