Claflin (3-0 for the week)
(beat Dillard 8-5, beat Rust 11-0, best Southern-New Orleans 2-0)
After Claflin finished last season 1-44 with closing 43-game losing streak, coach Jaylan Bledsoe set out to make sure things would go better in his second season.
So far, so good.
The Panthers went 3-0 over the weekend in the HBCU Battle of the Divisions in New Orleans. Three days into the season, they've surpassed the win total of the previous two years COMBINED (2, vs. 84 losses) and have fashioned their first three-game winning streak since 2019.
The last two wins came by shutout - a five-inning, one-hitter by Kyle Hawkins on Saturday and a combined six-hitter by Isaiah Mitchell and Jordan Jackson on Sunday. Claflin scored two runs in the ninth on Sunday to break a scoreless tie. I was unable to find an instance of back-to-back shutouts in Claflin's records, which go back to 2010.
That's lofty territory for a program coming off a 14.83 staff ERA last season.
Offensively Albert Rutledge had two hits in each game. D.J. Mungenast, the winning pitcher on Friday, also went 3-for-9 on the weekend.
Up next: Francis Marion, 1 p.m. Wednesday at Mirmow Field, then the Willie Mays Rickwood Classic in Birmingham over the weekend.
Also considered
Columbia International (4-0) - scored 74 runs in four games
Francis Marion (3-0) - swept first series of coach Jeff Jefferson's tenure
Newberry (3-0) - new coach Jay Snyder directs road sweep
North Greenville (4-0) - 63 runs scored as pitchers fan 52
USC Union (4-0) - hit .360 with 15 extra-base hits
Previous winners
(first of season)
(first of season)
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