By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Burlington Christian Academy’s baseball team has gotten this far with a sparkling season.
Finishing at the top is the main thing left for the Royals.
“We’ve got to do the important stuff,” senior first baseman Mark Primm said.
The Royals (20-1) will be a high seed for the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association’s Class 2-A state playoffs. It’s a two-week tournament, with the Royals receiving a bye into Saturday’s home quarterfinal against a to-be-determined opponent.
“We’re looking forward to that,” coach Justin Brown said. “We do have an end goal and that’s to win a state championship.”
BCA was coming off a solid season, and then its roster was bolstered by a few transfers from The Burlington School. It has been a good mix.
“They’ve bought in,” Brown said. “I couldn’t ask for a better team.”
Catcher Davis Phillips, who also spends time as a third baseman, said the offense has been consistently good.
“Our bats have always been hot,” Phillips said. “If we keep hitting, I think we’ll be good. We score a lot of runs. … We have good pitchers. It’s just everything, a recipe for a state championship.”
Primm, who has been on past BCA teams, said the team excels in tight situations. The groundwork for this began months ago.
“A lot of work this winter, seeing the work pay off,” Primm said. “Better this year than we’ve ever been, I think.”
Brown said the Royals struggled defensively for a game early in the season and seemed to get that straightened out quickly. The bats have proven to make up for some glitches.
“We’ve got several hitters hitting over .400,” Brown said.
BCA needed nine innings to win its opener at Northwest Guilford. Since then, 10 of their games were decided by nine or more runs. That included an April 15 decision by 10-1 against Rocky Mount Academy.
“I thought this was going to be a close one, but we broke out,” Phillips said. “We played that one good (against Northwest Guilford) so that’s promising for any other close games.”
BCA’s home games in the playoffs will be held at Eastern Guilford High School. The state championship series is slated for May 16-17 at McCrary Park in Asheboro.
