SNOW HILL — Of the five errors committed by Greene Central’s baseball team, the last one led to the Rams’ first loss of the season and put them in the hole in their NCHSAA Class 2A best-of-three Eastern Regional series.
Whiteville’s Matthew Hannah reached on a throwing error to lead off the eighth inning, and he went on to score as the Wolfpack beat Greene Central 4-3 in Game 1 of their series Tuesday in front of an overflowing crowd at the James R. Fulghum Athletic Complex.
Game 2 is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. in Whiteville. Game 3, if necessary, will be back in Snow Hill on Friday, also at 7 p.m. The series winner will represent the East in the NCHSAA Class 2A state championship series.
Leading off the eighth, Hannah reached on an error, the Rams’ fifth of the game.
“That’s definitely not Rams defense,” Greene Central coach Ben Brann said. “I just think we were trying to do a little too much. We’ve just got to go out here, relax and have fun and play our brand of defense.”
Hannah went to second on the overthrow, advanced to third on Caleb Johnson’s sacrifice bunt and came home on a fielder’s choice on Wyatt Torelli’s grounder to push home the winning run for the Wolfpack.
But unlike the first three rounds — consisting of win-or-go-home single games — all is not lost at this stage of the postseason.
“I’m sure we’ll take plenty of groundballs,” Brann said. “Really, it’s just mental. It’s all mental. We’ve just got to come ready to go.”
Whiteville coach Turner Brown — a former East Carolina standout who also spent some time as a graduate manager under ECU coach Cliff Godwin — knows how crucial the win on the road was.
“It feels awesome,” Brown said. “It feels great to come on the road. Something that coach Godwin at East Carolina talked about is you’ve got to be tough to win on the road. It’s always hard. The environment’s really, really good here.”
The Wolfpack’s Luke Odham led off the game with a walk, took second base on a passed ball and scored on a double by JT Todd. Todd went to third on a sacrifice bunt by Will Fisher and later scored on another passed ball to put Whiteville up 2-0 before Greene Central could pick up a bat.
Greene Central (25-1) quickly answered as Braden Burress doubled into the right-field corner to start the bottom of the frame. He advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly by Easton Creech. Will Radford walked, went to second on a wild pitch and crossed the plate on a single by Noah Uzzell to knot the game at 2-2.
In the fourth, Caleb Johnson hit a dribbler back to Greene Central starter Austin Hardy, who threw the ball high over first baseman Riley Radford’s head. Radford then fielded a sacrifice bunt by Grayson Creech and tried to cut down Johnson at third. But the subsequent throw back to first was again high, allowing Johnson to easily score for a 3-2 Wolfpack lead.
In the bottom of the inning, Greene Central’s Brady Anderson was issued a one-out walk. He took second on a passed ball, then third on Jordan Scott’s flyout and scored on another passed ball to tie the game again at 3-3.
The Rams had an opportunity to go ahead and potentially break the game open later in the fourth. Burress again doubled, this time to center field with two out. Creech and Will Radford were both hit by pitches to load the bases, but Whiteville starter Gabriel Priest induced a pop-out to get out of the jam.
The win improved the Wolfpack’s record to 24-1. Whiteville has not lost since its season opener against Cape Fear, a program that qualified for the 3A playoffs and was eventually upset by South Central in the second round.
Hardy went 5.2 innings, giving up just three hits and three runs, two earned. He walked three and struck out six. Riley Radford was the hard-luck loser, yielding just one hit, an unearned run and fanning three in 2.1 innings.
Uzzell went 2-for-3 with a walk. Burress finished 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and a run scored.
Brann is giving the nod on the mound to Burress, an ECU commit, for Game 2.
“We’ve got one of the best players in the state pitching for us Thursday,” Brann said.
Brown knows his team cannot let up just because Whiteville will be home.
“I know it’s going to be another dogfight on Thursday,” he said. “They’re going to be ready. They’re a really, really good team. We’re facing a really good arm, so we’ve got to be ready to go mentally and ready to compete. I expect another one like this tonight.”
3A
South Central 17, Terry Sanford 1 (6 inn.)
The No. 14 Falcons not only kept trekking all over the state and upsetting every team in their path, they were still picking up steam on Tuesday night in Fayetteville.
South Central smashed an NCHSAA playoff-record three grand slams in its fourth consecutive road game, leaving Terry Sanford reeling and running out of pitching while also claiming a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
SC (23-4) roared out of the gate when starting pitcher Christian Chance blasted a first-inning grand slam to stake himself and the Falcons an immediate 4-0 lead.
They weren’t done by a long shot. Or even two.
In the top of the second, Mason Hobbs teed off on the Falcons’ second slam of the night to up the lead to 8-0 and leave the No. 4 Bulldogs stunned.
From there, the visitors pitched and played defense to keep the Bulldogs searching for offense. The score stayed where it was until the sixth, when Tyce Thompson did the unthinkable, hitting another South Central grand slam to extend the lead to 13-0 before the Falcons piled on four more in the nine-run frame to guarantee an early finish.
SC has outscored its last two opponents, both higher seeds, by a combined 27-1.
The Falcons return home for the first time in five games on Thursday night with momentum on their side for Game 2.
For Terry Sanford, it wasn’t just a surprise upset loss, but the Bulldogs (26-6) dug deep into their bullpen in the process, using six arms in the loss.
SOFTBALL
3A
South Brunswick 11, South Central 0 (5 inn.)
The No. 6 Falcons ran into a wall on Tuesday night in the opening game of their series in Southport.
That wall came in the person of Cougars pitcher and Charlotte commit Kina Davis, who mowed down South Central for 10 strikeouts and allowed just one hit.
At the plate, Davis did more damage for the Cougars (24-4), going 2-for-3 with two RBIs, while teammate Carly Clewis went 3-for-3 with two RBIs.
The loss put the Falcons (20-6) on the ropes in the best-of-three series. Game Two was scheduled for Wednesday night in Winterville.
South Brunswick plated two runs each in the first and second innings to lead 4-0 and set the stage for a seven-run third inning. The Cougars had nine total hits.
SC freshman starter Ava Coward endured rare struggles in her two innings in the circle, walking five and allowing eight runs on seven hits. Fellow freshman Hailey Mickey also threw two innings, allowing three runs on two hits.
South Central’s lone hit of the night was a double off the bat of junior Lacey Spivey.
GIRLS’ SOCCER
3A
J.H. Rose 1, Fike 0
The No. 14 Rampants battled into the fourth round of the playoffs with another narrow win in Tuesday’s third round, a one-goal upset over No. 11 Fike in Wilson.
The prize for Rose (16-4-1) is a third game this season against No. 2 Jacksonville, which throttled West Carteret 6-0 in the third round and has outscored its three playoff opponents by a devastating 23-0 count.
Two of Rose’s four losses this season came at the hands of the Cardinals, including 1-0 on March 5 and 5-1 on May 7.
The win against Fike was a small measure of revenge after the two teams played to a 2-2 draw back in April.
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