Even when Greene Central’s baseball team suffered its first loss of the season in Game 1 of the best-of-three NCHSAA Class 2A Eastern Regional series against Whiteville, coach Ben Brann barely blinked.
When it was pointed out that the Rams committed five errors in Greene Central’s 4-3 setback in eight innings, Brann calmly said, “That’s definitely not Rams defense.”
Brann also said he felt like his team was trying to do too much in the series opener. After patiently answering questions from the media, he said — again calmly without a hint of cockiness or arrogance — “see you Friday night.”
In order for that to occur, Greene Central had less than 48 hours to recover, travel down to Whiteville and beat the Wolfpack to force a third and deciding game, which would be back in Snow Hill. The Rams shut out the Wolfpack 4-0 in Columbus County to bring the series back to the James R. Fulghum Athletic Complex.
GC’s Riley Radford closed out the series in Game 3, tossing a one-hitter and adding a three-run home run and RBI double in a 9-1 victory over Whiteville to advance to the NCHSAA Class 2A championship, a best-of-three series to be contested in Burlington.
There, the East’s top seed met the West’s top seed in Burns, a school based in Lawndale in Cleveland County which was seeking its second consecutive state title. Greene Central won 2-0 and 8-5 on consecutive days to sweep the series for the school’s sixth state title in baseball to go with crowns from 1972, ’80, ’87, ’90 and 2007. The Rams finished with a 29-1 record.
And now Brann — who just completed his second season at the helm — has a title to go with the five championships won by James “Rabbit” Fulghum. His father, Russell Brann, who took over at Greene Central for Fulghum starting with the 2001 season, was an assistant coach for the Rams this year. The lineage extends to the roster, where sophomore Riley Radford’s father, Daren, played for Fulghum on his 1987 title team.
Greene Central was dominant offensively throughout the season, outscoring its opponents 241-36. The Rams shut out 13 opponents, and 10 of their games were run-ruled — meaning they won by 10 or more runs in games called early by the mercy rule.
Sophomore Will Radford hit .588 with a .698 on-base percentage, 14 doubles and 37 RBIs.
Braden Burress, a senior East Carolina commit, finished with a .596 batting average and .697 OBP, four home runs, 10 doubles, three triples, 30 stolen bases and 59 runs scored. That doesn’t include his pitching statistics, which included a 12-0 record in 17 appearances, 94 strikeouts over 83.2 innings pitched and a 0.84 ERA.
Burress was also the winning pitcher in the clinching victory over Burns for the state championship.
Two more pitchers finished with ERAs under a run per game while throwing a significant number of innings.
Austin Hardy, like Burress, finished with a 12-0 record in 14 appearances, with a 0.46 ERA, striking out 147 batters and yielding just 30 hits in 76 innings pitched. Hardy earned the win in Game 1 of the state championship series, scattering five hits without giving up a run over six innings.
Riley Radford finished with a 0.51 ERA in 27.1 innings pitched, including the complete-game one-hitter to get Greene Central to the state championship series.
Riley Radford, in Game 2 against Burns, finished 2-for-3 with a home run and four RBIs. Will Radford went 3-for-4 at the plate in the game.
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