Monday, 4-14-25
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… The Red Devils were scheduled to host Fairfield Central in a region game last Friday, but that game has been postponed until Monday, 4-21-25
- Up Next in Baseball… The Red Devils are scheduled to travel to Laurens tonight for a 7:30 game with the Raiders in the first of two games for the “County Championship” with the second game scheduled for Tuesday at Clinton at the same time.
- 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: Fury 5 – Raiders 3… The Raiders took on the Fountain Inn Fury at Ed Prescott Field last Friday in the third game of their 3-game series… As you may recall, the Raiders lost the first two games by 1 run in each game… The Raiders broke on top scoring a run in the bottom of the 1st inning, but the Fury took the lead scoring 2 runs in the 3rd and 5th inning to go up 4-1… The Raiders cut that lead to 1 run (4-3) scoring 2 runs of their own in the bottom of the 5th inning… However, the Raiders would get no closer as the Fury scored another run in the top of the 7th inning and then after giving a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 7th, retired the next 3 batters to take the 5-3 win and strengthen their hold on first place in the region… The Fury outhit the Raider 6-5 and they had 2 extra base hits to the Raiders 1… Ben Willis and Zay Pulley led the Raiders at the plate both getting 2 hits each and Willis did have 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 Baseball… The Raider baseball team will now host the Clinton Red Devils tonight at 7:30 in the first game of the “County Championship” with the second game at Clinton tomorrow night.
- Softball: Wade Hampton 14 – Laurens 0 (5)... The Raiders hosted the Generals of Wade Hampton last Friday in a non-region game and the Generals took a 14-0 win in 5 innings…The reason for the Generals win is simple in the fact that the Generals outhit the Raiders 12-2and the Raiders did have a few problems that gave the Generals 3 unearned runs… Summer Nations and Makayden Livingston both had a single to account for the Raiders only 2 hits… 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… The Raiders are now scheduled to Woodruff Monday, 4-21-25 for a 6:00 pm game with the Wolverines.
Laurens Academy
- Baseball… I don’t think the Crusader baseball team played last Friday and if they did I cannot find any results.
- Up Next in Baseball...The Crusader baseball master schedule on their website says they will be hosting Greenwood Christian on Tuesday, 4-22-25 at 6:00 pm
- Softball… The Crusaders home game with Richard Winn that was supposed to be played last Friday was postponed and no makeup date has been announced.
- Up Next in Softball… As best I can tell, the traveling to Greenwood Christian on Thursday, 4-24-25 for a 5:00 pm game with the Hawks.
Thornwell
- Up Next in Baseball… According to their schedule on MaxPreps, the Saints will be in action next Monday (4-14) when host Dixie HS taking on the Green Hornets in region action at 7:30 pm.
- Up Next in Softball … Looking at the Saints schedule on MaxPreps it looks like they will be hosting McCormick next Tuesday (4-15) at 5:00 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 (4-6-25) DI Baseball.com Top 25 poll, the top 5 spots had a good bit of change… Arkansas is now #1 (2) followed by Texas (5), LSU (7), Clemson (6) and Tennessee (1)… Spots 6-10 are occupied by Ole Miss (9), Georgia (3), Oregon State (11), Florida State (4) and UCLA (14)… Coastal Carolina once again checked in at #21… To see the entire top 25 in this poll click here.
Softball
- ESPN/USA Softball Poll… In the latest (4-6-25) ESPN/USA Softball Top 25, the top 5 had a little change compared to last week as Texas is still #1 followed by Oklahoma (3), Texas A&M (4), Oregon (5 and Tennessee (6)… Spots 6-10 are occupied by LSU (6), UCLA (8), Florida (2), Florida State (10) and Arkansas (13)… South Carolina dropped for #10 to # 11 and Clemson checked in at #21 up from #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
- Kyle Larson Dominates at Bristol… In case you missed it Sunday, Kyle Larson won both the Cup Series Race and the Xfinity Race on Saturday at Bristol on Saturday… He led 411 of the 500 laps on Sunday… 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, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliot … 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… The Cup Series will have the week off up at Rockingham this weekend…To see the NASCAR schedule for this weekend up in Rockingham, 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, it 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.
- Friday: Rays 6 – Braves 3… This was the first game of a 3-game series in Tampa against the Rays.
- Saturday: Braves 5 – Rays 4.
- Sunday: Rays 8 – Braves 3… The Braves start a 3-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays tonight in Toronto.
- 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).
- Game Suspended… Up in Ashville Thursday night, the Drive were leading the Tourist 3-0 in the bottom of the 4th inning when the game was suspended due to weather… They were supposed to finish that game Friday before playing the regularly scheduled game…. However, all games on Friday were also rained out.
- Saturday: Drive 5 – Tourist 0… On Saturday they completed the game started on Thursday with the Drive winning 5-0.
- Saturday: Tourist 5 – Drive 2… This was the regularly scheduled game.
- Sunday: Tourist 8 – Drive 2… The Drive lost 3 of the 5 games played with the Tourist and will be off tonight before starting a 6-game series with the Winston Salem Dash tomorrow (4-15) at Flour Field.
- 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 you have not already done so, please continue to let me know you read the sports reports.
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 .
