Clemson hoops and football, EHS

Congrats to the Clemson Tigers men’s basketball team for making the NCAA Tournament!

The 27-6 Tigers (the No 5 seed) will be taking on 12-seeded McNeese (also 27-6) on Thursday afternoon in the first round of the tournament.

Football Fans: It still cracks me up how so many sports fans in this area only care about Clemson Tiger football and that’s it!

And you can’t blame them. Each home football game is more like an event to several sports fans in the area and the “events” have been named for each home football game for the Tigers upcoming season. They are:

Aug. 30 (vs. LSU): Land Grant Day and IPTAY Day

Sept. 6 (Troy): Football Reunion and P.A.W. Journey Day

Sept. 20 (Syracuse): Family Weekend

Oct. 18 (SMU): Breast Cancer Awareness Day

Nov. 1 (Duke): Homecoming

Nov. 8 (FSU): Hall of Fame Day and Extra Yard for Teachers

Nov. 22 (Furman): Military Appreciation Day and Senior Day

Green Wave edges Seneca

EASLEY — The Easley baseball team answered some early-season questions last Wednesday afternoon in a 5-4 win over a talented Seneca team.

They found their No. 2 pitcher (behind Walker Cox) in senior Trey Sutton. He turned in 4.1 solid innings of work.

“I told him tonight you answered all my questions,” said Green Wave coach Gill Payne, shortly after the victory. “You are our No. 2 guy (on the pitching staff) in region. He said that’s what I wanted to hear coach.”

EHS pitching coach Cole Simpson was also impressed with the starting performance of Sutton.

“Trey had a lot of command with his cutter, so we stuck with it,” Simpson said. “He got ahead in a lot of counts, which helped us out. He put himself in a good position to win.”

The game started out scoreless until the bottom of the third inning when Easley took a 2-0 lead. Lead-off hitter Ayden Beeco got it started with a stand-up double to right-center field. Trey Kicklighter followed with a nice sacrifice bunt. Beeco later scored on a passed ball for a 1-0 lead. Number 6 hitter Jackson Rampey then delivered a bloop RBI single to left-center field.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the bats came alive for the Green Wave offense. Junior Walker Cox bounced a single to right field and cleanup hitter Aaron Tolbert followed with one of the hardest hits of the game on a rope to left field. Easley’s offense broke loose for 3 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, capped off by the “small ball” of Payne’s team with drawing walks, stealing bases and putting pressure on the other team.

Seneca (4)

Name H R AB

Scruggs, 2B 0 0 4

Cutshall, P 1 1 3

McGovern, DH 2 1 4

Vassey, 1B 2 2 4

Hawk, C 0 0 2

Ivey, RF 1 0 2

Henderson, SS 0 0 2

McGee, CF 0 0 2

Little, LF 1 0 3

Duvall, 3B 0 0 0

Totals: 7 4 26

Easley (5)

Name H R AB

A. Beeco, LF 1 1 4

T. Kicklighter, CF 0 0 3

W. Cox, DH 2 1 4

A. Tolbert, 1 2 2

C. Sears, 1B 0 1 1

J. Rampey, 2B 1 0 2

C. Irvin, SS 0 0 2

L. Holcombe, 3B 0 0 2

J. Sonderfan, RF 1 0 2

Totals: 6 5 22

2B: Beeco, Cox, McGovern,Vassey. HR: Cutshall, McGovern, Vassey. SB: Rampey, Tolbert (2). SH: Kicklighter, Hawk, Ivey. SF: Sonderfan

Pitching:

Seneca

Cutshell 4IP, 4h, 2r, 2er, 4bb, 8so, 15AB, 1FO, 2GO, 70NP

Easley

T. Sutton 4.1 IP, 5h, 2r, 2er, 2bb, 3so, 16 AB, 4FO, 2GO, 63 NP

WP C. Irvin 1.2 IP, 1h, 1r, 1er, 0bb, 1so, 6AB, 1FO, 3GO, 21NP

S W. Cox 1IP, 1h, 1r, 1er, 0bb, 1so, 4AB, 1FO, 0GO, 13NP