SUMMERTON – Richard Winn pulled off a 1-run win against Clarendon Hall over a two-day stretch to stay alive in the South Carolina Independent Schools Association (SCISA) A State tournament. The game started Monday night but only five innings were completed because of the threat of severe weather. The Eagles made the trek back to Summerton on Tuesday afternoon to close the deal.
The Eagles missed a scoring opportunity in the top of the first, leaving two runners on base to end the inning. Clarendon Hall put up two runs in the bottom of the second and held the 2-0 lead through the third.
Richard Winn senior Zack Taylor homered to lead off the fourth inning and narrow the lead to one. Austin Lancaster reached base on a Saints error. Brian King singled to center. Travis Bonds, in to run for Lancaster, and King advanced on a wild pitch before a pop out by Rob Wilson scored Bonds to even the score at 2. A ground out by Jacob Chaisson put King on third, who scored on a John Russell line-drive single to left. Russell, who advanced to third on a fielding error, scored on a single to center from Lawson Wade. The Eagles closed the top of the fourth with a 4-2 lead.
The Eagles would close Monday’s play with a 4-2 lead as the game was called because of threatening weather. They took the field for the bottom of the fifth inning when they returned to Summerton on Tuesday afternoon.
With the pending threat of elimination, Clarendon Hall put two runners on in the bottom of the fifth, but the Eagles managed to get out of the inning with their 4-2 lead intact.
The Saints closed the lead to 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth after a pair of fielding errors put runners in scoring position for a sacrifice fly.
Richard Winn headed to the plate in the top of the seventh looking to put get distance from the Saints. With one out, Wade reached base on a fielding error. B Baker was hit by a pitch, putting runners on first and second. A fly ball to left field gave Clarendon two outs. Taylor drew a walk to load the bases, and Lancaster was hit by a pitch to score Wade and add an insurance run for the Eagles. A groundout ended the inning, and Clarendon went to bat with one last chance for survival.
Caldwell, pitching in relief, struck out Clarendon’s leadoff batter, and a groundout added a quick second out. An Eagle fielding error put a runner on first for the Saints, who advanced to third on a line-drive single to center. Clarendon plated a run and advanced a runner to third on another Eagle error, but a ground out to first got the Eagles out of the bind with a 5-4 win.
Taylor picked up the win for the Eagles, pitching four innings. He struck out five, walked three, and allowed one hit and two runs. Caldwell got the save. He struck out two, allowed one hit and two runs in two and two-thirds innings.
The Eagles, who entered the elimination bracket after last Tuesday’s loss to Dorchester Academy, defeated Newberry Academy on Wednesday and Andrew Jackson Academy on Friday before facing Clarendon Hall this week.
Richard Winn defeated Andrew Jackson 5-3 on Friday. Rob Wilson picked up the win. He threw six and two-thirds innings, striking out give and allowing six hits and three runs. Landon Caulder earned the save. Wilson also homered in the win.
The Eagles got a late-game win over Newberry Academy last Wednesday. Down 9-6, the Eagles put up 16 runs in the fifth and sixth innings to end the game in the sixth at 22-12. Caldwell got the win. In four and a third innings of work, he allowed four hits and five runs. He struck out eight.
The win over Clarendon Hall put the Eagles at 16-3 on the season and in a semi-final rematch against Dorchester on Wednesday, but Richard Winn fell short of the win with a 3-9 final. The Eagles would have needed to defeat Dorchester twice to advance to the title game. Dorchester advances to the state championship best-of-three series, set to be played May 10, 11 and 13.
Read the story on Richard Winn’s loss to Dorchester in the May 13, 2021 issue of The Voice.
RICHARD WINN – 0-0-0-4-0-0-1 – 5, 5, 6
CLARENDON HALL – 0-2-0-0-0-1-1-4, 4, 5
WP: Taylor; SV: Caldwell
HITTERS: Taylor 1-3 (HR), Lancaster 1-3, Russell 1-3, Wade 1-3, King 1-4
RICHARD WINN – 0-0-0-3-0-2-X – 5, 7, 2
ANDREW JACKSON – 0-0-1-0-0-0-2 – 3, 7, 1
WP: Rob Wilson
HITTERS: Baker 2-3 (2B); John Russell 2-3 (2B, 3B), Wilson 1-3 (HR), Taylor 1-2, King 1-3.
RICHARD WINN – 1-5-0-0-8-8-X – 22, 9, 1
NEWBERRY – 0-7-2-0-0-3-X – 12, 5, 6
WP: Caldwell
HITTERS: Russell 2-2, Caldwell 2-5 (2B), Baker 2-5, King 1-3, Chaisson 1-4, Wade 1-3.
