3A Baseball Championship Recap: Marvin Ridge slams door on Topsail 10-7 to win back-to-back titles

BURLINGTON, N.C. – Marvin Ridge bats were alive on day two of the 3A Baseball State Championships as the Mavericks plated ten runs in each of their two must-win games to surge to the 3A State Championship over Topsail, securing back-to-back championships for Marvin Ridge.  Game three started out in much the same fashion that game two ended, with Marvin Ridge churning out runs at a high volume. The Mavericks posted five runs in the bottom of the first, answering a single score for Topsail in the top half of the frame, to take a 5-1 lead and not look back on the way to a 10-7 victory in game three.

The Mavericks jumped all over Topsail freshman pitcher Aiden Smith, working five runs off of three hits, two walks and an error in the first inning. They followed up that with a run in the second and third inning each, before another big inning in the fourth where Marvin Ridge plated three runs and led 10-1.

Marvin Ridge tacked on a run in the second as Alex LeShock singled with one out then stole second base. He moved up to third on a groundout by Mark Glover. Then LeShock stole home, making it 6-1 Mavericks. They added a run in the third after Chandler Castleberry led off with a triple and Jake Kuchmaner got him home with a sacrifice fly putting the Mavericks up 7-1.

Three runs came home in the bottom of the fourth as LeShock reached on an error, moved to second on a balk, then Glover doubled to bring him home. Kevin Dobos and Castleberry each drew walks and Glover scored on a walk drawn by Connor Paul. Dobos crossed the plate on a passed ball making it 10-1.

Topsail made things interesting down the stretch adding three runs in the fifth and again in the seventh. Sam Hall drew a lead-off walk in the seventh before Chase Riker took Mavericks starter Zach Zdimal deep to cut the Marvin Ridge lead to 10-6.

Castleberry was named the series M.V.P. as he had two homers and a triple in games two and three to help power Marvin Ridge to their second straight championship.