Marc Rogers / Journal

 An extremely close play at first by the pitcher and first baseman Matthew Overton (#33).

CLINTON — On Monday, the Clinton Maroons faced the Rantoul Eagles in their final regular season home game.  

The Eagles flew in and took first blood, scoring 2 runs in the top of the first inning.  Then, the Maroons came alive in the fourth with 4 runs of their own.  

Rantoul kept the game interesting in the top of the third with a run to trail by one until the Maroons finished the inning with 4 more runs of their own.  

This gave the Maroons a comfortable lead at 8-3, or so they thought.  In the fourth inning the Eagles added 2 more of their own runs to close the scoring gap.  Then, for good measure (and insurance) the Maroons added another run in the fifth inning.  

The sixth inning was quiet as far as scoring goes, but Rantoul put a real scare in the home team by scoring 2 more runs in the seventh before going down in defeat 9-7.  

Travis Osgood (3-3) got the win for the Maroons with Levi Nettles in relief in the final 3 innings.  In offense, Mac Hickman lead the way hitting 3-4 with a double and 2 RBI’s, followed by Wesley Conn hitting 2-2 with a double and 3 RBI’s, and Cameron Wertz hitting 2-4 with 2 RBI’s.  

The Maroons are now 11-13 overall and 6-8 in conference play.  Their final regular season game is at Coal City on Saturday the 20th at 11:00 a.m. followed by a JV game.  The Maroons then enter regional play on May 25 at Lincoln High School at 4:30 p.m. against the Lincoln Railsplitters.