By MONTE DUTTON

Clinton needed someone to lean on in its 6-1 victory over Liberty in opening game of the Class 2A baseball playoffs on Tuesday.

That someone was Isaac Cain, who held the line on the mound for six innings. The righthander – the Red Devils have nothing but righthanders – allowed only a run, three hits and a walk. He struck out eight. Sixty of his 94 offerings were strikes.

It was tense. It was tenacious. Clinton’s lead was only 3-1 until the Red Devils scored three times in the bottom of the sixth inning. Tanner Finley came on to finish off the alternate Red Devils.

“We missed some early opportunities,” Cain said. “The challenge is staying focused when the scoring is low. Our late offensive surge showed our resilience.”

Clinton (24-3) needed a test. It will likely get another when it travels to Central of Pageland (16-9), an 18-4 victor over Blacksburg (8-17), on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

“Isaac did an unbelievable job, threw strikes and gave us a chance,” said Clinton head coach Peyton Spangler. “That’s all we need out of our starting pitchers.

“Offensively, we were really, really close. One bunt here, or maybe a hard-hit ball gets through the infield there, but we couldn’t quite bust it open and [Liberty] deserves some credit for that. We think we’re really good, but on game day, you’ve still got to get it done. We missed some opportunities, but that was probably good for us.”

Center fielder Camden Finley essentially salted the game away with a two-run double in the bottom of the sixth inning. Catcher Luke Young added a two-out RBI single.

Clinton never trailed. In the bottom of the first inning, an error on William Addison’s fly ball to right field staked the Red Devils to a 2-0 lead as Camden Finley and Jaydon Glenn, both of whom had walked, scored.

Liberty (13-14) scored with two out in the top of the third when T.J. Borow, who had two of the other Red Devils’ four hits, singled in Easton Bell, who had led off with a walk.

William Addison’s sacrifice fly added a run in the third, but the inning ended when Graydon Watkins lined into a double play.

Clinton’s seven hits came one at time from Camden Finley, Jaydon Glenn, Young, Addison, Watkins, Owen Glenn and Logan Johnson. Tanner Finley, who closed out on the mound, started the game at designated hitter and was twice hit by a pitch.

Jacob Melton, the first of two lefties used by Liberty, took the loss.

Clinton stole six bases, two by Camden Finley.

The Red Devils play Saint Joseph’s for the Class A/2A/3A boys’ tennis Upstate championship on Wednesday at 5 p.m. on Clinton’s home court.

Clinton edge Christ Church to advance.

# 1 Singles   Matthew King defeated Paul Fraunberger 7 – 5, 6 – 7(2-7) (10 – 8)

# 2 Singles    Edwin Orr defeated Krish Patel 6 – 3, 6 – 2

# 3 Singles    Jacob King defeated Judd Windham  6 – 1, 6 – 2      

# 4 Singles    Jake Meyerholtz lost to Powers McKissick  6 – 4, 6 – 3

# 5 Singles    Cooper Stinson lost to John Whitney  6 – 3, 2 – 6, ( 6 – 10)

# 1 Doubles  M. King & J. King defeated P. Fraunberger & K. Patel  6 – 2,     7 – 6 (7 – 1)

# 2 Doubles   Malakye Brewer & Ethan Wargo lost to Bruno Nickel & Case Aldrich  6 – 0, 6 – 2

Here’s a surprise. Tennessee (32-17) defeated Presbyterian (10-39) by a score of 8-1 in Knoxville on Tuesday night.

Matthew Rollison homered, his eighth, and the Blue Hose trailed by only a run until the Volunteers scored four runs in the sixth inning and two in the eighth.

PC’s final home series is this weekend, beginning on Friday when USC Upstate plays the first of three Big South games at 6 p.m.

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