Thursday, 4-24-25
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
- Up Next in Baseball… According to the MaxPreps, the Red Devils will be traveling to Eau Claire today for a region contest, but I am not sure about that… They did not play the scheduled game yesterday.
- Up Next in Softball… According to their schedule on MaxPreps, the Red Devils will be in action today when they travel to Eau Claire Shamrocks at 5:30 pm
- Jabari Dillard Signs with Howard University… I almost let this slip through the cracks but back on Friday, 4-11-25, Jabari Dillard signed a letter of intent to continue his education and track career at Howard University in Washington DC jumping hurdles for the Bisons… Several other schools showed interest in him including but not limited to North Greenville, Coastal Carolina and SC State… When asked why Howard, he said it was not just the quality of the track program but also its academic reputation and the fact they made him feel like family… He plans on majoring in biology geared toward a pre-med track with plan to attend medical school and hoping to become a sports medicine physician… He mentioned he will have to adjust to the hurdles being 3 inches higher in college than in high school and that they will probably use him in the short distance hurdles rather than the long-distance ones… The 100-meter dash is within the realm of possibilities for him… Congratulations and good to him not only on the track but in his life goals.
- Bryanna Belton Signs with Columbia International… Wednesday, 4-23-25, Bryanna Belton signed a letter of intent to continue her basketball career and academic career at Columbia International University in Columbia, SC playing for the Rams… Other intuitions were interested in her playing for them, but the Rams impressed her the most because when she went and practiced with them, they made he feel like family and the university centered its curriculum around God… That she said would have most likely caused her to want to go to school there even if she was not offered the chance to play basketball… She reflected back on her career at Clinton HS and said that the 28 points she scored against Laurens a couple of years ago was the highlight and the low point was when the Red Devils were defeated this season in the Upper State Finals… She also talked about her leadership role on this year’s team as one of three seniors helping to bring the young players along with encouragement and by example when some of them seemed to be frustrated when things were not going well for the team…She was originally recruited by the Rams as a shooting guard but further examination of film on her showed the ability to play both offensively and defensively in the paint so she may be used there also… She is planning on majoring in biology and maybe going on further to become a radiologist but has not completely given up on desire to become a nurse…. Congratulations to Bryanna and may both her basketball and academic career continue to get better with the Rams!
Laurens
- Baseball: Laurens 7 – Southside 0 (2 games)… The Raider baseball team was scheduled to travel to Southside HS last night to take on the Tigers in a doubleheader of baseball… The best I can tell (and will confirm today), the Tigers chose not to play so the Raiders win both games by a score of 7-0 in each game.
- Up Next in Baseball… Weather permitting, the Raiders will host the Hillcrest Rams today at 6:30 with a JV game starting at 5:30.
- Up Next in Softball… The Raiders were scheduled to travel to Emerald yesterday to take on the Vikings… The best I can tell, they did not play but will confirm that today…. The Raiders are now scheduled to host the Vikings today at 7:00 weather permitting.
- Baseball Senior Night… Monday (4-21-25) the Raider baseball team honored the senior members of the team… They include:
- #1 – Ben Willis… Ben plans on attending Horry-Georgetown Tech and majoring in Forestry.
- #2 – Bennett Edwards…. He plans on attending Georgia Southern to continue his academic and athletic career.
- #4 Avery Madden… Plans on becoming a lineman for Laurens Electric.
- #5 Jireh Brown… Plans on attending a technical college.
- #9 Grayson Ledford… Grayson had planned on attending Limestone University but with recent funding problems there, he is looking to play baseball and continue his education somewhere else
- #10 Zay Pulley… Zay plans on attending Flounce Darlington Tech and majoring in HVAC.
- #17 Coleman Coker… Coleman plans on attending Brevard College where he will continue his baseball career and be a pre-med major.
- Also Honored… The raiders also recognized and honored their team manager Anthony Zou who plans to attend Clemson… Kensley Crowe was also honored for being the team’s athletic trainer and helping to take care of the team not only at home but on the road.
Laurens Academy
- Up Next in Baseball...The Crusader baseball master schedule on their website says they will be playing at Greenwood Christian on Today, 4-24-25 at 6:00 pm
- Up Next in Softball… As best I can tell, the traveling to Greenwood Christian today, 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 not be back in action until Friday, 5-2-25 when they travel to Southside HS in Greenville… I need to check on that.
- Up Next in Softball … Looking at the Saints schedule on MaxPreps it looks like they will be hosting Abbeville Friday (4-25) at 4:15.
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 (4-20-25) DI Baseball.com Top 25 poll, the top 5 spots had a good bit of change… Texas is still #1 (2) followed by Clemson (3), Oregon State (6), Florida State (7) and Arkansas (2)… Spots 6-10 are occupied by Tennessee (4), LSU (9), North Carolina (12), Vanderbilt (19) and Georgia (5)… 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 (4-21-25) ESPN/USA Softball Top 25, the top 5 had a little change compared to last week as Tennessee (2) is now #1 followed by Texas A&M (1), Texas, Oklahoma and Oregon (6)… Spots 6-10 are occupied by Florida (7), Florida State (8), UCLA (5), Arkansas (10) and LSU (9) … South Carolina moved up a spot to #11 and Clemson checked in at #19 again this week… 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
- Cup Series has Easter Off… The Cup Series drivers had the week off this past Sunday… The Xfinity did race on Saturday with Sammy Smith taking the win at Rockingham… 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 is back in action this weekend as NASCAR moves most of the action this weekend to Talladega…To see the NASCAR schedule for this weekend, 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.
- Braves 4 – Cardinals 1… The Braves won the third game of the 3-game series with the Cardinals last night in Atlanta by a score of 4-1… Eli White had a 3-run homer for the Braves his first of the season… The Braves are off tonight.
- 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).
- Hub City (Spartanburg) 4 – Drive 3… The Hub City Spartanburgers took a 4-3 win last night in Spartanburg scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning on a single with 2 outs and runners on first and second bade.
- 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 .