By MONTE DUTTON

The sun was still out, and the sky was still blue when Clinton won the Upstate Class 2A baseball title on Wednesday.

The Red Devils had a loss to spare when Batesburg-Leesville arrived. The Panthers put up a fine effort, and reigning state champions don’t give up the crown without a fight. Clinton (29-3) won in gallant style, 4-3.

Gallantry is evinced further by eight straight victories, six in the playoffs. The state finals, a best two-of-three affair, are scheduled to begin on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Clinton against Atlantic Collegiate Academy (29-3), a charter from Conway. The Armada won the Low Country with a 4-2 win over East Clarendon (23-10).

Game two is in Conway on Tuesday. If necessary, game three is at Lugoff-Elgin High School on Saturday, May 30.

Third baseman Jaydon Glenn drove in the winning run with a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth inning, driving in center fielder Camden Finley, who had tied the score with a double.

“I looked bad on some sliders he [Braydon Hallman) threw me in,” Glenn said. “I battled some pitches off. I knew it was coming again. I saw it good, and it hit my bat.”

Glenn was 3/4 with a double. Camden Finley was 2/4. Tanner Finley, who had started on the mound, was also 2/4.

Tanner Finley, who pitched 5-1/3 strong innings, allowed two hits and struck out three. The Panthers regained the lead, 3-2, in the sixth, so Isaac Cain (1-2/3, two hits, a run, two K’s) earned the decision. Neither walked a batter. Finley threw 45 strikes in 68 pitches; Cain, 20/26.

“We take a lot of pride in everything we do,” Tanner Finley said. “Every team considers making the playoffs very important, but this team plays every pitch, every practice, like that. We take everything seriously.

“It feels so good to be out there with my boys, leaving all we’ve got on the field.”

Hallman turned in a complete game in a losing cause, allowing nine hits, four runs (three earned) and a walk. He fanned four.

The players at the top of the B-L order, center fielder Reese Boehnke and second baseman Landon Soper, each went 2/3 with a double. Soper drove in two runs.

Tanner Finley drove in the game’s first run with a two-out single to right in the third inning, scoring Glenn, who had doubled. In the fifth, Glenn reached on an error, and Camden Finley, who had led off with a single, scored on a second error on the same play.

Four straight hits – a single by Mason Lowe, doubles by Boehnke and Soper and a single by Hallman – put Batesburg-Leesville (20-10) ahead 3-2 in the top of the sixth inning.

Clinton has not committed an error in its past three games. The Red Devils turned two double plays.

“[Batesburg-Leesville], they’re state champions, they’re coached extremely well and play extremely hard,” said Clinton head coach Peyton Spangler. “We made them stumble. We had the champ wobbling, but we knew we had to have a knockout punch.

“Every team in the state, every team in the country, talks about being tough, being resilient, but when you get in those moments, that’s when you’ve got to ‘man up.’ I’m so proud of our seniors.”

Another state title – the Red Devils won the 3A crown in 2023 — takes two more wins.

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