By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Baseball teams from opposite sides of the state will converge at Burlington Athletic Stadium this week to determine North Carolina High School Athletic Association championships in two classifications.
The Class 4-A finals between Wake Forest (25-5) and Asheville Roberson (24-7) along with the Class 3-A finals pitting Greenville Rose (26-3) against West Henderson (25-5) will take place Friday and Saturday. Both series are best-of-3.
Friday’s schedule has Game 1 in Class 4-A at 5:00 p.m. followed by Game 1 in Class 3-A at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday’s slate has Game 2 in Class 4-A at 11:00 a.m. followed by Game 2 in Class 3-A at 2:00 p.m. If Game 3s are necessary, they would be at 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
It’s the third year in a row that the Class 4-A title will be decided in Burlington. In 2021 and 2022, the Class 2-A final series also were held in Burlington.
The other two classifications were assigned to Ting Stadium in Holly Springs. The Class 1-A final pits North Moore (22-8) against Uwharrie Charter Academy (20-10), while the Class 2-A series features South Granville (22-4) and Burns (26-4).
Haynes guides strong postseason
While Alamance County baseball teams didn’t advance beyond the second week of the state playoffs, a coach who lives in Graham took his team on an unexpected run deep into the Class 1-A playoffs.
First-year Eastern Randolph coach Brent Haynes, a Southern Alamance alum and former assistant coach for the Patriots, had his team in the Class 1-A West Region finals. There, the Wildcats lost 4-3 and 8-1 to UCA. In both games, UCA took the lead in the sixth inning.
Eastern Randolph and UCA are the only two Class 1-A teams in the Piedmont Athletic Conference, which otherwise consists of Class 2-A teams. Eastern Randolph finished with an 8-19 record.
As the No. 21 seed in the West Region, the Wildcats rattled off four road victories in the state playoffs before encountering UCA again.
The postseason included spending two nights in the mountains for a second-round game at fifth-seeded Hayesville. Haynes said the Wildcats left the day before that game and when it was suspended because of weather in the fifth inning, they spent another night on the trip before prevailing 5-2.
