By MONTE DUTTON

Let’s not get carried away by Clinton’s 10-1 victory over Chesnee in the first game of the Upstate baseball bracket on Thursday evening.

Sure, the Red Devils are 27-3. They have won four straight playoff games and six in a row overall. They have scored in double figures 13 times in the last 19 games.

But … Clinton delivered a nine-run haymaker in the first inning. Chesnee (21-11) collected 10 hits, same as the Devils, and managed to keep Clinton in sight – Eagles have excellent vision – for the full seven innings.

In the early innings, Clinton’s pitching and defense sidestepped jam after jam.

In the second, Chesnee had a walk and two hits. Left fielder Graydon Watkins cut down Banks Davis at the plate, and pitcher Isaac Cain struck out Owen Ehlich and C.J. Morgan.

In the third, Cain fanned Davis and Coy Wall with the bases loaded. Cain dispatched three batters in a row with runners on second and third. Chesnee left two baserunners in the fourth. The Eagles finally managed a run in the sixth, but Clinton matched them in the bottom half when Angel Vargas scored on a passed ball.

The Red Devils finally put the ailing Eagles out of their misery when Jaydon Glenn retired the final two batters in the seventh.

Cain, Tanner Finley and Glenn combined to give up a run off 10 hits and four walks, striking out 10. Cain got the win by working four innings with two walks and six K’s.

Clinton’s first inning was a merry-go-round. Camden Finley walked. Jaydon Glenn and Luke Young were both hit by the first of five Chesnee pitchers, Kevin Grant, who didn’t retire a batter.

Tanner Finley walked. William Addison singled. Vargas sacrificed. Watkins ground out but drove in a run. Owen Glenn singled, as did Logan Johnson, as did Camden Finley, Jaydon Glenn, Luke Young and Tanner Finley.

Nine runs. Seven hits. Two walks. Two hit batters. A sacrifice bunt. A Chesnee error.

When it all finally ended, only Camden Finley and Addison had more than a hit, but Jaydon Glenn, Young, Tanner Finley, Vargas, Owen Glenn and Johnson all had one.

All for one. One for all. At the plate. On the mound. In the field.

Four Chesnee batters had two hits each. Klay Davis and Ehlich doubled. The number that mattered was runs: one off 10 hits and two errors.

Clinton visits Batesburg-Leesville (19-8), a 4-1 winner at Landrum (23-7), next on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Will wonders never cease?

“We actually did have times when we played good ‘small ball.’ After the first inning, we couldn’t finish what we set up,” Clinton head coach Peyton Spangler said. “We executed early.

“I’m proud of the guys. Our main focus – we’d been a little timid at home recently – was to attack and throw the the first punch.”

Following the boxing metaphor, Chesnee staggered to its feet after a nine count, then lingered stubbornly. It wasn’t pretty to watch.

I was behind the plate snapping photos during the nine-run first inning, shooting through a gap next to a Chesnee couple in their lawn chairs. Nice folks. I moved around, as usual, but I felt a little sympathy for the visitors who had to sit through it.

A little. The Eagles had half the hits and less than 1/10^th of the runs. I’m sure the ride home seemed longer than my drive home from Nashville, Tenn., the day before.

Them’s the breaks.

Baseball isn’t the only Clinton sport chasing a state championship.

Up the hill from the baseball yard, the softball Red Devils (19-5) take on – who knew? – Chesnee (19-5) on Friday at 6:30.

Come early. Chesnee’s schedule lists the game as 6.

The Red Devils defeated Buford two out of three, finishing off the Yellow Jackets, 8-3, on Wednesday in Lancaster.

Buford led, 2-0, until Clinton scored three runs in the fourth inning, one in the fifth and four in the sixth.

Me-Me Smith was the winning pitcher, thanks to 5-1/3 innings of six-hit, one-run relief of Sierra Templeton. She struck out six, walked none, and was 3/4 at the plate with two doubles, a homer and two RBI.

Presumably, Smith sold no tickets or popcorn.

Halleigh Luke, Sophie Young and Addie Watkins chipped in two hits apiece. Watkins doubled, homered and drove in four runs. Alyssa Young, Sophie Young and Watkins each scored twice.

Luke Young, Camden Finley and Tanner Finley made the S.C. Baseball Coaches all-state team in Class 2A. Young shared Player of the Year with Logan Newcomb of Conway’s Atlantic Collegiate Academy.

As expected, megapower Oceanside Collegiate won the Class 2A/3A boys’ tennis state title over Clinton, 6-0, just as the Landsharks feasted by the same score the year before.

Also, the Red Devils are, for the second year in a row, the unofficial state champion of Class 2A non-charters.

Oceanside has won six straight state titles that count.

The S.C. High School League also has an individual state tournament, after which the Red Devils’ tandem of Matthew and Jacob King were named all-state.

In the tourney, an invitation-only affair, Matthew King made the consolation finals, Jacob King the consolation quarterfinals and Edwin Orr the round of 16.

Matthew King won the state’s Sportsmanship Award.

The site is supported by reader contributions. If you’re interested, you can make modest monthly payments on my Patreon page or a one-time contribution via Venmo (@DHKSports).

Or, if you’d like to make a contribution by check or cash, my mailing address is: Monte Dutton, P.O. 221, Clinton, S.C.  29325 (hutdut@outlook.com).

It means a lot to me that you enjoy what I write.

Most of my books are available at Amazon. Two of my novels, Cowboys Come Home and Lightning in a Bottle, are available in audio versions.