PROSPERITY, S.C. — The Rebels varsity baseball team picked up a thrilling early season win against one of the top teams in 2A. Mid-Carolina(5-6, 2-0 region 3-AA) defeated Clinton(7-2, 2-1 region 3-AA) 7-5 at home Tuesday, March 24th to snap their three-game losing streak.
Clinton entered Tuesday’s contest winners of seven consecutive games and scored 15 or more runs in their last three wins. Mid-Carolina entered the game in desperate need of a win after coming off another tough loss.
Lawson Lawrence got the start on the mound for the Rebels and he got off to a strong start to the game. He only gave up one hit in the first two innings and had three strikeouts. Both teams struggled at the plate to start the game and it was scoreless through two innings.
The Red Devils hot offense began to emerge at the top of the third inning. Lawrence starting off the inning with back-to-back walks that put two runners on base. Clinton’s starting catcher Luke Young would clear the bases with a three-run home run over the monster wall in left field to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.
Lawrence rough inning would continue after giving up that back-to-back hits that led to another score. The Red Devils would extend their now 4-0 lead once again with short ground ball into the infield that the shortstop couldn’t handle for the Rebels which lead to a rushed overthrow. The error led to another run being scored and Clinton with a 5-0 heading into the bottom half of the third inning.
Mid-Carolina would quickly respond and began chipping away at the big deficit. Junior right fielder Landon Wicker would provide a spark after the Rebels were able to get two base runners on second and third base. He would hit sacrifice ground ball to bring in the first score for the home team. Then, starting catcher Davis Ruff would bring home another score with a RBI single. Rebels would trail 5-2 at the end of third inning.
Lawrence would struggle a bit at the top of the fourth inning, but would find a way to dig himself out of the hole. He started the inning by walking another batter and then would find a way to get three consecutive outs, which included picking off a runner on first base to get the third out.
Neither team would get anything going at the plate in the fourth inning and Clinton would preserve their 5-2 lead. Lawrence would see his time on the mound come to an end after giving up back-to-back hits at the top of the fifth. Luke Milling would come into the game and get the Rebels out of the jam by striking out three consecutive batters to retire the side.
Mid-Carolina would get two base runners to start the bottom of the fifth inning and Ruff would get his second hit of the game that loaded the bases. Tanner Shell would get a RBI single to cut into their deficit and now they would only trail 5-3. The Red Devils would make a error on an infield ground ball that was tough to handle. The error lead to two runs being scored on the play and now the game was tied 5-5.
The Rebels would continue to their comeback after Myles Meyers would bring home another score on a RBI single. Clinton’s head coach had saw enough and would call upon the bullpen for a pitching change. The Rebels added another score behind two controversial walks that would load the bases again.
Mid-Carolina would have a 7-5 lead going into the sixth inning after trailing 5-0 at the end of the third quarter. They would hold onto their lead and get their biggest win thus far in the early season.
“No doubt about it that Coach Spangler has a really good team, talented team and they are really well coached. They do a lot of things the right way but to compete and beat them tonight was huge for our kids. We have had our nose bloody a little bit so far with our schedule against some really good teams,” said Rebels head coach Lindsey Stribble.
“We have learned through that and all the things as coaches that we try to get them to understand such as ‘keep battling, keep fighting, stay locked in from pitch-to-pitch and put balls in play’. Stuff like that was here tonight that came up big for us and we were able to scratch back to be fortunate enough to win tonight.”
The two teams will meet again on March 27 at Clinton High School. The first pitch will be at 7:30 p.m. and I am sure the Red Devils will be eager to avenge the loss.
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