HOLLY SPRINGS — The top four hitters in East Rowan’s lineup proved too much for South Central’s baseball team to overcome.
The Mustangs posted four-run innings in the first and fourth thanks to those batters en route to an 11-3 victory over the Falcons in Game 2 of the best-of-three series for the NCHSAA Class 3A championship at Ting Stadium on Saturday.
East Rowan (34-2) swept the series 2-0, having won the opener 3-2 in nine innings on Friday, which snapped a 13-game winning streak for the Falcons.
East Rowan’s first four hitters went a collective 12-for-18 with eight RBIs and all 11 runs scored on Saturday as the Mustangs outhit South Central 17-6.
“There wasn’t any pitching around those guys today,” South Central coach Pat McRae said. “We did a good job with it (Friday), but when hitters are stacked on top of each other like that, hitters hit. And that’s what they did.
“I felt like we hit the ball well as well, but just right at people.”
East Rowan’s Logan Dyer led off the game with a single and quickly went home on a triple to the right-field power alley by Braden Shive. Cobb Hightower’s single drove in Shive.
Harrison Ailshie reached on an infield single, and McCall Henderson walked to load the bases. Nate Hayworth followed with a single to score Hightower and Ailshie to stake the Mustangs to a 4-0 lead before the Falcons had recorded an out.
“They came out and put a four-spot on us, and it’s tough to recover from something like that,” McRae said.
South Central started clawing back in the second inning as Tyce Thompson drew a leadoff walk. Two batters later, Isaiah James fouled off three pitches after getting two strikes and eventually doubled, followed by a Rahkeem Williams walk to load the bases. Two batters later, Mason Hobbs’ bases-emptying double into the left-field corner closed the gap to 4-3.
Hightower hammered a two-out double into the left-field corner in the fourth to drive in Dyer and Shive for East Rowan, then came home on Ailshie’s one-hopper to the wall for another double. Henderson singled to score Hightower to make the score 8-3 to chase South Central starter Brandon Worsley.
Dyer and Shive singled to lead off the sixth for the Mustangs and, two batters later, Ailshie took the first pitch he saw over the right-field wall for a three-run home run to complete the scoring.
Shive finished 4-for-5 with a triple, an RBI and three runs scored. Hightower was 3-for-4 with a double, three RBIs and two runs scored, while Ailshie was also 3-for-4 with a home run, four RBIs and two runs scored. Ailshie was named Most Valuable Player.
“Our top of the lineup does a good job getting on base, and our three (Hightower), four (Ailshie) and five (Henderson) do a good job of driving them in,” East Rowan coach Brett Hatley said. “It’s kind of the way it has been all year.”
Josh Britt had two of South Central’s hits, one of them a double. Christian Chance, Brody Stallings, Hobbs and James also had hits.
South Central, which opened in 2002, was seeking its first state championship in baseball on its first trip to the state finals. The Falcons are the fourth Pitt County school — joining J.H. Rose, D.H. Conley and Farmville Central — to reach the state championship series.
After the game, there were handshakes, hugs and a few tears among South Central’s players and coaches. While it didn’t end the way South Central wanted it to, following the final post-game gathering just outside the third-base line, dozens of Falcons fans who made the trip from Winterville were there with cheers, support and hugs.
“It’s tough because it’s not the outcome we wanted, but if you had told me on Day One that you’ll be there on Saturday in the state championship and you have to win two, I’d say ‘Yeah, let’s do it,’” McRae said. “These guys got nothing to hang their heads about.
“According to everybody else, we were the perpetual underdog, but we felt like we were a great baseball team all season. And we were. We hit the ball well, we played good defense and we pitched well. We did those things today, but East Rowan was just a little better than us. And that’s OK.”
It also didn’t take away from the postseason run South Central had. As the No. 14 seed in the East, the Falcons became road warriors after the opening round — winning four consecutive games away from Winterville before beating Terry Sanford in Game 2 of the Eastern Regional series at home — to work their way through the bracket en route to the state championship series.
“We were a 14 seed, but I felt like we were better than that,” McRae said.
The game was the last in a Falcons uniform for seniors Stallings, Britt, Thomas Yarborough, Carter Hale, Hobbs, Lashawn Lovitt, Ean Behm and Marcus Byrd.
“I really appreciate those seniors for the last four years and all the support they’ve given us,” McRae said. “I love those guys, and I’ll do anything for them. I look forward to the future because I think the future’s bright.”
South Central finished its season with a 24-6 record.
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