By MONTE DUTTON Tanner Finley fires a strike (Monte Dutton photos). Click here. At its best, high-school baseball is tense, exciting and unlimited by a run rule. Clinton (9-2, 3-1 Region 3-2A) guarded a one-run lead with the tenacity of an animal defending its young on Friday night, gaining a split with rival Mid-Carolina, 2-1, …
Raiders blanked by Fountain Inn, 2-0
By MONTE DUTTON Noah Hughes (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. Fountain Inn (14-1, 8-0) goes for a Region 1-4A sweep of Laurens (4-10, 4-4) on the Fury’s home field after winning, 2-0, in Laurens on Wednesday night. Collin Wilson 
and Brayden Passmore combined to stop Laurens on three hits. Wilson struck out 11. Noah …
In dreams and reality
By MONTE DUTTON When I awakened this morning, nature called. Nothing unusual about that. It’s my interior alarm clock. I keep forgetting to buy a new one. Last night I spent an hour talking with an old NASCAR chum. The first Darlington race of the season was Sunday. My friend and I laughed at stories …
Baseball is just what we need
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. The country has gone crazy. On that we can all agree. Most folks are mad. What we cannot agree on is what has made us mad. An old folk song comes to mind. It’s about the collapse of a musical group. Well, the one on the right …
Finally basketballed out
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. In a week of moping around, dealing with things that would not work and dreaming impossible dreams, life gets back to normal, or didn’t I write that last week? Notes from watching too many basketball games: Gunfighters shoot from the hip. Politicians shoot from the lip. Basketball players shoot from …
Furman falls, but not for want of effort
By MONTE DUTTON Tarris Reed Jr. (UConn photo) Click here. The controversial quotation, from Vince Lombardi, was: “Winning isn’t everything. It is the only thing.” The Green Bay Packers head coach, who lost one postseason game in his career, meant his remark to be aspirational. Winning is the only goal worth seeking. Connecticut (30-5), a …
Anatomy of an upset
By MONTE DUTTON Alex Wilkins (Furman photo) Click here. Furman must go into Friday night’s game against Connecticut with illogical expectations. A cynic would call it delusions of grandeur. The Paladins must believe they are going to win. Period. There’s no other way. When Furman hits the Xfinity Mobile Arena floor, every corner of the …
Rahl releases PC football schedule
New Presbyterian College head football coach Matt Rahl faces a schedule similar to the one the Blue Hose played last year. The good news is that PC enjoyed a 10-2 season in Steve Englehart’s final season at the helm. The bad news is that, for the first time since 2022, the Blue Hose have a …
Paladins set sights on UConn, Philly
By MONTE DUTTON Alex Wilkins (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Furman University is practicing football, competing in numerous spring sports, and dancing. Basketball is not over. Not yet. The Paladins are headed to Philadelphia, Pa., City of Brotherly Love, and where Furman pulled an NCAA first-round upset of South Carolina on March 9, 1974. I’m …
Red Devils prosper in cool night air
By MONTE DUTTON Noah Hughes (12) and Clinton's Camden Finley (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. To borrow from an old country song, it was back to the basics of love On a Friday night in March, Clinton (4-1) handled Laurens (0-5), 12-6, at Ed Prescott Field. All there were appropriately bundled. The Red Devils wore …
Nightrider's Lament 