Baseball Recap: Saturday's Win Is Clayton's Eighth in Last Nine Outings

Comets

Margin (Wins)

04/01/26 vs Southeast Raleigh	20
03/31/26 @ Southeast Raleigh	20
03/17/26 vs Smithfield-Selma	16
03/18/26 @ Smithfield-Selma	11
04/04/26 vs North Johnston	10

Clayton got themselves on the board against North Johnston on Saturday, but North Johnston never followed suit. They blew past the Panthers 10-0. Considering the Comets have won five contests by more than nine runs this season, Saturday's blowout was nothing new.

Clayton got a massive performance out of Calvin Madenspacher, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with two stolen bases, three runs, and two RBI. Madenspacher has become a key player for the Comets: the team is 6-1 when he posts at least two runs, but 3-4 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Grant Buchanan, who went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, two RBI, and one run.

Clayton hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as North Johnston struck out 11 times.

Clayton is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine matchups. That's provided a massive bump to their 9-5 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.8 runs on average over those games. As for North Johnston, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 8-6.

Looking ahead, Clayton will be taking part in a tournament against Greenfield at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. The Knights have struggled to contain batters this season (they've allowed 6.9 runs per game on average), something the Comets will no doubt try to take advantage of. As for North Johnston, they will take on Smithfield-Selma in a tournament on Monday. The Spartans have struggled to contain batters this season (they've allowed 9.43 runs per game on average), something the Panthers will no doubt try to take advantage of.