Thursday, 4-10-25
Please see an important note and question about the future of this report in the This and That Section at the bottom of this report.
Local Notes
Clinton HS
- Baseball: Clinton 10 – Fairfield Central 0… Yesterday the Red Devil baseball team traveled to Fairfield Central HS to take on the Griffins in region action… The Ride home was a happy one as the Red Devils took a 10-0 win in 6 innings… The Red Devils outhit the Griffins 9-0 and the Griffins did have 5 errors in the game so that only 4 of 10 runs were earned….Tanner Finley picked up the complete game win striking out 14 and walking just 1 as he and the Red Devil defense held the Griffins scoreless…Finley also let the Red Devils offense as he went 3 for 3with 2 doubles scoring 1 run and driving in 2… Luke Young went 2 for 4 with a triple, a double and an RBI from his leadoff spot in the lineup… To see the box score of the game click here and to see the scorecard to see how the runs were scored click here.
- Up Next in Baseball… The Red Devils are scheduled host Fairfield Central at 7:30 tomorrow night weather permitting.
- Softball: The Red Devil softball team also traveled to Fairfield Central yesterday but the decision was made to play a doubleheader so that they could finish the series with the Griffins before some expected rain comes in to end the week.
- Game1: Red Devils 5 – Griffins 0… In the first game, the Red Devils simply outhit the Griffins as they took a 5-0 win over the Griffins… Me-Me Smith picked up the complete game as she pitched all 5 innings giving up just 1 hit while striking out 5 and walking none… All the Red Devil hits were singles and the Griffins did have a couple of errors that figured into the Red Devil scoring… Taylor Davis was the only Red Devils with more than 1 hit as she had 2 from her leadoff spot in the lineup… To see the box score of the game click here and to see the scorecard to see how the runs were scored click here
- Game 2: Red Devils 15 – Griffins 0… In the second game where the Red Devils were the home team, they did not need to play all 5 innings as the Red Devils won 15-0 in just 3 innings… The Red Devils jumped out to an 8-0 lead after one inning of play and were never really stopped or threatened after that… Both hits by the Griffins were singles as Me-Me Smith again got the complete game win striking out 6 and walking none… Alysa Yung went 2 for 2 at the plate with a double and rove in 2 runs… Cat Willkie’s only hit was a double and she had drove in 3 runs… To see the box score of the game click here and to see the scorecard to see how the runs were scored click here.
- Up Next in Softball… According to their schedule, the Red Devils will not be in action until Tuesday, 4-22 when they host the Eau Claire Shamrocks at 5:30 pm
Laurens
- Baseball: Fountain Inn 6 – Laurens 5… The Laurens Raider baseball team traveled to Fountain Inn HS last night to take on the Fury in region action… As you may recall, the Fury took a 1-0 win at Ed Prescott Field on Tuesday… Well last night was another 1 run win by the Fury as they scored an unearned run in the bottom of the 8th inning to win the game 6-5… The Fury took an early 4-1 lead after one inning of play, but the Raiders had a 5-4 lead after 3 innings to play… The Fury tied the game with a single run in the fourth inning and it remained 5-5 until the bottom of the 8th inning… The Fury outhit the Raiders 9-8 with two of their hits being doubles…. The only extra base hit for the Raiders was a solo homer by Coleman Coker in the third inning…. No Raider had over 1 hit… To see the box score of the game click here and to see the scorecard to see how the runs were scored click here.
- Up Next in Baseball… The Raider baseball team will now host Fountain Inn tomorrow night at 6:30 in a game they really need to win to try to keep pace with the Fury who are undefeated in the region.
- Up Next in Softball… The Raiders are now scheduled to host Wren today (4-10) about 7:00 pm weather permitting.
Laurens Academy
- Baseball: The Crusader baseball team took on the Bengals of Brashier Middle College yesterday in a doubleheader.
- Game 1: Crusaders 8 – Bengals 2 (4)… In the first game the Crusaders outhit the Bengals 5-3 and took advantage of a few Bengal mistakes to take an 8-2 win over the Bengals…The Crusaders led 7-0 after 2 innings of play and were really never threatened after that… Mason Cooper and Riley Whitaker both had 2 hits in the game to lead the Crusader offense… To see the box score of the game click here and to see the scorecard to see how the runs were scored click here
- Game 2: Bengals 12 – Crusaders 3 (4)… Now I hate to have to report that in the second game, the Bengals turned the tables taking a 12-3 win in 4 innings… The Bengals only outhit the Crusaders 8-7 but too many walks (8), hit batters (4) and wild pitches (3) by 5 Crusader pitchers to go along with a couple of Crusader errors tells the “backstory” on this game… Two Crusaders had over 1 hit as Mason Cooper went 2 for 2 with a double and 2 RBIs while Elias Littleton had 2 singles… To see the box score of the game click here and to see the scorecard to see how the runs were scored click here.
- Up Next in Baseball… The Crusader baseball master schedule on their website says they will be hosting Richard Winn tomorrow (weather permitting) at 4:00 with a middle school game but their MaxPreps schedule shown no game until Tuesday, 4-22-25 so I am just not sure.
- Tuesday Softball: Crusaders 18 – Hawks 8 (5)… Catching up with the Crusader softball team, they were in action down in Greenwood Tuesday taking on the Greenwood Christian Hawks and I finally have details on that game… Good news for Crusader fans as they took an 18-8 win over the Hawks in 5 innings… They did outhit the Hawks 10-8 but took full advantage of some Hawk errors and 8 walks… Morgan Boding and Abby Howard led the Crusaders at the plate as they both had 2 hits driving in at least 1 run… Maddie Loe picked up the win going 4 innings giving up 5 runs (only 2 of which were earned) while striking out 6 and walking 3… Mackenzie Runyans finished the game… To more information on the Crusaders in this game, click here.
- Up Next in Softball… As best I can tell, the Crusaders will be hosting the Eagles of Richard inn at 5:30 if the schedule on MaxPreps is correct.
Thornwell
- Up Next in Baseball… According to their schedule on MaxPreps, the Saints baseball team was supposed to travel to McCormick to take on the Chiefs Tuesday… If they did, I could not find any results for the game… Their schedule on MaxPreps shows they will not be in action until next Tuesday (4-15) when they travel to Dixie HS to take on the Green Hornets in region action at 7:00 pm/
- Softball: Dixie 16 – Saints 6 (6)… Yesterday the Saints softball team traveled over to Dixie HS to take on the Green Hornets… I hate to have to report that Dixie took a 16-6 win over the Saints in 6 innings… They only outhit the Saints 18-11 but the Saints had defensive miscues so that only 14 of the Hornets 16 runs were earned while the Saints had to earn all 6 of their runs… The “big” inning for the Hornets was the 2nd inning where they scored 10 runs to go up 11-1… The Hornets also tallied 4 doubles in the game and 1 triple while the Saints could only answer that with 4 doubles… Camden Nelson led the Saints offense with 3 hits two of which were doubles… Madi Porter and Skylar Bates both had 2 hits for the Saints with each having a double… To see the box score of the game click here and to see the scorecard to see how the runs were scored click here.
- Up Next in Softball … Looking at the Saints schedule on MaxPreps it looks like they will head to Whitmire today to take on the Wolverines in region action today 7:00 pm.
Local Sports Schedules: All schedules subject to change right up to game time.
- School District 55: To see the sports schedule for this week at LDHS, click here.
- School District 56: To see the sports schedule for this week at CHS and CMS, click here
- Laurens Academy: Click on each of the following to see their schedule on the LA website: Softball and Baseball … To see the MaxPreps schedule and results for the teams click on one of the following you are interested in: Softball…. Baseball
- Thornwell: To see the Thornwell schedules and results click on their MaxPreps pages click on one of the following you are interested in:: Baseball… Softball
- PC Sports Calendar… To see the PC athletics sports calendar, click here.
College Sports: For any game mentioned below, click on the score for more details if available.
College Polls… In the polls below the number in parenthesis (?) indicates their rank in the last poll if it is different from the present one… If there is a score given for game(s) click on it to see details on the game(s).
Baseball
- DIBaseball.com Top 25… In the latest (3-30-25) DI Baseball.com Top 25 poll, the top 5 spots are occupied by Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida State and Texas (7)… Spots 6-10 are occupied by Clemson, LSU, Alabama (12) and Oklahoma (9)… To see the entire top 25 in this poll click here.
Softball
- ESPN/USA Softball Poll… In the latest (3-30-25) ESPN/USA Softball Top 25, the top 5 had a little change compared to last week as Texas is still #1 followed by Florida (4), Oklahoma (2), Texas A&M (5) and Oregon (6)… Spots 6-10 are occupied by Tennessee (10), LSU (3), UCLA (7), South Carolina (11) and Florida State (8)… Clemson checked in at #25… To see the entirety of this poll click here.
Pro Sports: For more information on the game(s) below, click on the scores at the start of the section.
NASCAR
- Denny Hamlin Wins at Darlington… In case you missed it Sunday, Denny Hamlin won for the second time in as many weeks as he edged out William Byron thanks to a clutch pit stop late and a near perfect restart after a caution… For more on this race including a link to the final finishing order for all drivers click here.
- Driver Standings… After this race, the top 5 drivers in the Cup Series Standings are now William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliot and Tyler Redick… If you click here you will go the NASCAR posting that has the Cups Series standings from top to bottom… Once you get there you can click on tabs at the top of the page to see the driver standings in the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series.
- Weekend Schedule… To see the NASCAR schedule for this weekend up in Bristol, click here.
- Master Schedule… If you click here it will carry you to the NASCAR website where the season schedule is posted and you can look at the Cup Series. Xfinity Series or the Craftsman Truck Series by clicking on their icon at the top of the list… In addition to the date and location, i
t will also give you race times and TV viewing options.
Braves…. Click on the score to go to the Braves website for a recap of the game.
- Phillies 4 – Braves 3… Last night in Atlanta, the Braves gave up a run in the top of the 9th inning as they lost to the Phillies 4-3
- Regular Season Schedule… To see the Braves regular season schedule click here… Once you get there you can go backwards to see completed games in previous month(s) or ahead for future dates.
- Scores… To see the MLB scores by date and see the schedule for future days, click here.
- Standings… To see the standings for all the MLB teams by divisions, click here.
Greenville Drive… Click on the scores below at the start of the section for more details on the game(s).
- Drive 5 – Tourist 4… The Drive continued their series with the Tourist last night (4-9-25) and won by a score of 5-4.
- Schedule… To see the Drive schedule click here.
- Standings… If you would like to see the standings in the South Atlantic League, click here to go to the website where that is available… Once you get there, there are drop-down menus and filters so that you can see the standing in other leagues and levels of minor league baseball.
This & That:
As most of you know by now, WLBG will be signed off the air about 3:15 pm on Monday, 3-31-2025.
That was a bittersweet moment for me as I have strived to bring you local sports to the best of my ability and throw in some college and pro sports also.
As I understand it, the WLBG website will NOT be taken down immediately.
If that is the case I may still be able to continue to post these sports reports on the website for some time to come if there if you the Laurens County sports fans want me to but don’t look for the sports report until 8:00 am weekdays or perhaps a little later (I’ll be sleeping later and not getting up at 3:00 am like I have been doing).
Obviously I will not be getting paid to do it but I will try to continue to the end of the high school sports this season if the demand is there. This will also help me to decide if in the future I might try to develop my own website if I can obtain the sponsorship to bring you what you want.
If you don’t mind, please email me at sports@wlbg.com and let me know you would like to see it continue.
That is the only way I have to judge this.
If I don’t seem to generate much interest in this that is fine I just won’t do it.
In any event I have enjoyed (for the most part) my almost 15 years doing this and meeting some great coaches, players, administrators and you the fans.
Take care and you will still be able to catch me at some athletic contest.
Go Red Devils, Raiders, Crusaders and Saints!
If you have any comments, suggestions, or want to report scores, please contact me via email at: sports@wlbg.com .
