Curtis Johnson steps down as baseball head coach, athletic director at East Clarendon to become Sumter AD
Larry Cornelius becomes interim AD, while Will McMillan returns to head baseball
Turbeville – The East Clarendon High School baseball team reached the championship round of the AA lower state tournament in what turned out to be Curtis Johnson's final season as head coach.
After the Wolverines lost to Atlantic Collegiate Academy 4-2 to be eliminated, Johnson announced he was stepping down as baseball head caoch and athletic director to beome the athletic director at Sumter. EC football head coach Larry Cornelius has been named the interim athletic director, while Will McMillan, who left East Clarendon to become the Sumter baseball head coach for four years, is returning to Turbeville for a second stint.
The baseball lower state tournament was basically the Region 7 Invitational. Three of the four teams were from that region -- East Clarendon, which won the region, second place Atlantic Collegiate and third place Lake City.
East Clarendon finished with a 23-10 record. The Wolverines won their lower state pener 15-2 over Cheraw the final team in the double-elimination tournament ,However, they fell to Atlantic Collegiate 4-1 at Shad Hall Field in a winners bracket game. EC beat Cheraw 5-4 in an elimination game before falling to ACA. was scheduled to play host to Lake City on May 18 with the winner having to beat ACA twice in order to advance.
East Clarendon swept the Distric 6 tournament. The Wolverines beat Andrew Jackson 9-6 in the opener and then beat Philip Simmons twice, 6-1 and 9-2.
Seniors Barnes McConnell and Wes Springs were named to the South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association AA All-State team. McConnell batted .378 with 28 runs scored and 22 runs batted in. On the mound, he had a 4-0 win-loss record and a 3.23 earned run average. Springs batted .381 with a team high 33 RBI to go with eight doubles, two triples, two home runs and 29 runs.
The Wolverines batted 360 as a team and had three players with a batting average above .400. Junior Braylon Hunt batted .437, junior Colten Baker .433, and junior Crosby Timmons was hitting .402.
East Clarendon rode the arms of sophomore Heath Jordan, freshman Easton Donlon, sophomore Gavin White and junior Blease Hardy.
Jordan led the team in innings pitched with 40 2/3 and had a 5-3 record with a 3.99 earned run average. Donlon worked 38 1/3 innings and was 2-1 with a 2.01 ERA. White had 31 1/3 innings, going 4-3 with a 2.90 ERA, and Hardy, who was hampered by injuries at the start of the year, worked 24 innings with a 3-1 record and a 2.33 ERA.
East Clarendon had seven players in double digits in stolen bases led by junior Evan Lee with 17. Hunt and Springs had 15 apiece, senior McConnell had 14, White had 13, junior Cade Mooneyham had 12, and freshman Dalton Filyaw had 10.
EC SOFTBALL REACHES LOWER STATE TOURNAMENT
The East Clarendon softball team made it back to the lower state tournament but saw its reign as AA state champion come to an end by going 1-2.
The Wolverines lost their opening game in the lower state tournament to eventual state runner-up Chesterfield 5-4 on May 15. That left the Wolverines traveling to Kershaw to face Andrew Jackson on May 18, a game they won 4-2. However, EC was elliminated with a 5-1 loss to Andrews.
The softball team went undefeated in its district tournament. It beat Central 12-5 in the opener before beating Woodland 11-5 and 11-1 to advance.
EC GIRLS HAVE FOUR PLACE IN AA STATE MEET
The East Clarendon girls track and field team placed in four spots in the AA state meet on May 15 at the Richland Northeast track in Columbia.
Both the 4x400-meter relay team and the 4x800 team finished fifth. Kierston Woods was sixth in the shot put, and Cayli Harcrow was eighth in the javelin.
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The only points for the boys came from the 4x100 relay team, which finished fifth.
The girls who qualified for state but didn’t place were Shae Lee in the 1,600-imter run, Woods in the discus and Tymani Cooper in the javelin.
For the boys, it was Keshaun Porter in the 400-meter hurdles, Avery Lowery in the discus and the 4s400 relay team.
In the Region 7 meet held at Marion on May 1, there were four region champions among the girls and one from the boys.
Shae Lee won both the 800- and 1,600-meter runs, Kira Owens won the 3,200 run and the 4x800 relay team won.
Porter was the boys javelin winner.
