2016 NCHSAA Baseball Championship Series Recaps
1A – Cherryville title ends Whiteville's streak with a series sweep
Game 1 – Long’s walk-off single propels Cherryville past Whiteville 5-4
Despite a stellar performance on the mound from Whiteville High School left-hander MacKenzie Gore, Cherryville High School was able to win a rain-flled first game of the 1A Baseball State Championship Series. The Ironmen managed to weather a late game storm from the clouds, and the Wolfpack to win in walk-off fashion on Friday night at Five County Stadium.
Down 4-2 heading to their final at-bat in the top of the seventh inning, Whiteville rallied to tie the game at 4-4. The Ironmen bounced back from the blown lead by taking advantage of a pair of miscues from the Wolfpack. In his second inning of relief work, Dylan Lawson hit Austin Treadway in the shoulder with a one out pitch. Treadway made his way to second base on a wild pitch, and Cherryville was in business after Jonathan McSwain slapped a ball to third base that was bobbled to put two on with only one out. Lawson caught Ryan Owens looking at the plate for the second out of the seventh, but he was unable to escape the jam with Randall Long up to bat. Long, who went 2-3 with a hit by pitch on Friday came through with a hard hit ground ball to left field, scoring Treadway from second in the process for the 5-4 walk-off victory.
Game 2 – Cherryville wins back and forth battle for 1A State Championship
Cherryville High School won their first 1A State Baseball Championship since 2008 with a 7-4 victory over two-time defending state champion Whiteville High School. The Ironmen won both games of the best-of-three series at Five County Stadium.
The Ironmen, and Wolfpack encountered four ties, and four lead changes in the game. Noah Eaker did it all for Cherryville on Saturday afternoon as his bat, and right arm proved to be too much for Whiteville. With the scored tied at 4-4 in the top of the sixth inning, and two men out, Ryan Owens reached on an error, and Randall Long was issued an intentional pass for the Ironmen. That set the stage for Eaker who rocked a Brooks Baldwin offering to the wall in right field for a two run triple to put Cherryville ahead for good at 6-4.
2A – East Rutherford defeats South Granville to win Bobby Reynolds' record tying sixth State Championship
Game 1 – East Rutherford rips South Granville 8-0
An error on the first play of the game was the sign of a rough afternoon to come for South Granville, as East Rutherford lead-off man Holden Greene reached on a fielding error. Then Kendall McGowan laced a triple down the left field line to make it 1-0. East Rutherford ran away from there, coasting to an 8-0 win in game one of the 2A Baseball State Championship series.
The Cavaliers batted around in the fourth inning when they added six more runs to their tally on just two hits in the inning, as three more South Granville errors spelled their undoing. After the top of the fourth explosion, East Rutherford led 7-0 and turned it over to starting pitcher Ethan Stewart. Stewart completely stymied the South Granville offense only allowing five hits in a complete game shutout. He struck out ten on the afternoon with only one walk.
Game 2 – South Granville slugs their way to 9-3 win to even series with East Rutherford
Needing a win to force a game three on Sunday afternoon, South Granville jumped to the lead early with three runs in the top of the third and then rode sophomore Holden Laws to a 9-3 win to even the 2A Championship Series with East Rutherford.
Laws was spectacular on a steamy Sunday afternoon, spinning a complete game and only allowing three runs on seven hits. He struck out nine on the afternoon. Perhaps his best moment came early in the game as upon the resumption of play following an overnight suspension of play due to inclement weather, Laws worked his way out of a bases loaded one-out jam in the bottom of the first allowing only a single run on an RBI groundout keeping his team in front 3-1.
Game 3 – East Rutherford takes title, blasts to a 10-5 win over South Granville
After taking a 9-3 loss in game two earlier that afternoon, East Rutherford jumped on South Granville early in game three, plating eight runs in the second inning to take an 8-0 lead and cruise to a 10-5 victory and 2A State Championship. The victory claimed the school’s sixth baseball State Championship for head coach Bobby Reynolds, who tied three other coaches for the most State Championships won by a head coach with six in his career.
Gehrig Christopher started off the rally with a one-out double and moved to third on a single by pitcher Kaleb Green. Then Adam Barnette tapped a ball to third base, and Vikings third baseman Justin Brown tried to cut Christopher down at the plate, but the ball squirted away from the catcher and the Cavaliers took a 1-0 lead. The Cavaliers plated seven more runs in the inning on three more doubles and a two-RBI triple by Nick Strickland extending the lead to 8-0.
3A – Marvin Ridge claims back-to-back titles with series win over Topsail
Game 1 – Topsail shakes off rough first inning for 6-3 win over Marvin Ridge
he Topsail Pirates shook off a tough start to game one of the NCHSAA 3A Baseball State Championship series storming back from three runs down to beat Marvin Ridge 6-3 and take the lead in the best-of-three series. After a shaky first inning of work that saw him give up three runs on five very hard hit balls, Topsail starting pitcher Payton Rice shut down the Maverick attack only allowing one more hit in his final six innings of work, and no more runs.
Rice was nearly flawless in the final six innings of the game, striking out five batters on the night and only allowing four more base runners after the opening frame. His nice recovery allowed time for the Topsail offense to find their footing in the game against Marvin Ridge starter, Jake Kuchmaner, and four Marvin Ridge errors on the night helped the Pirate’s cause.
Game 2 – Marvin Ridge slugs way to 10-0 win & forces game 3
Marvin Ridge slugged three home runs in game two building a 7-0 lead and cruising to the 10-0 win over Topsail to even the best-of-three series and force a decisive game three for the 3A Baseball State Championship. Chandler Castleberry hit two mammoth shots, both solo home runs, one in the fourth and the other in the Mavericks four-run fifth to power the Marvin Ridge attack. Teammate Kevin Dobos added a three-run shot in the fifth. Dobos finished the day with 4 RBI’s.
Topsail only mounted one real threat on the afternoon against the Maverick’s starter Jason Cornatzer. The Pirates pushed runners to the corners with two outs in the fourth, but Cornatzer induced a fly ball to right to end the inning and maintain the shutout.
Game 3 – Marvin Ridge slams door on Topsail 10-7 to win back-to-back titles
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.
4A – North Davidson rallies for sweep of Green Hope
Game 1 – North Davidson takes game one from Green Hope 6-0
Cole Beeker threw a complete game shutout for North Davidson High School in Game One of the 2016 NCHSAA 4A State Baseball Championship Series. The Black Knight offense backed their southpaw with runs in four of the six innings that they were at the plate for a 6-0 victory at Five County Stadium over Green Hope High School on Friday evening
Beeker allowed only nine Falcon runners to reach base in the ballgame, and of those nine he was able to retire two on pick-off throws to first, and another two on double plays. In total, the 6’3 senior went seven innings, while allowing no runs on seven hits, with no walks, a hit batsman, and he registered five strikeouts.
Game 2 – Late Comeback in game 2 wins 4A State Championship for North Davidson
North Davidson completed a two game series sweep of Green Hope High School in the NCHSAA 4A Baseball State Championship at Five County Stadium in Zebulon, NC. Down 2-0 heading to their final at-bat in the top of the seventh inning, the Black Knights scored five unearned runs to clinch the 5-2 victory.
After a single, a hit batsmen and an error loaded the bases in the top of the seventh with North Davidson trailing 2-0, Chris Joyner issued a walk to plate a run then E.P. Reese tapped a come-backer to the mound and Joyner missed the throw home allowing two runs to score and give the Knights a 3-2 lead. North Davidson shortstop Jackson Meadows added an RBI groundout to make it 4-2 before Michael Johnson poked a two out RBI single to the outfield to put the Knights ahead 5-2.
