By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Southern Alamance’s baseball team got back on track in a big way this week.
“We were just more energized in the dugout,” senior catcher Lance Siegner said after Monday night’s 10-0 victory at Western Alamance. “We played better together.”
That gave the Patriots at least a share of the Central 3-A Conference championship, marking the 20th conference title in the program’s history.
Southern (16-5 overall, 9-2 Central 3-A Conference) can clinch the outright championship by winning Thursday night at home vs. Western (11-11, 5-6) or if second-place Roxboro Person (16-5, 8-3) loses at home to Williams (6-11, 1-10).
“It means a lot more if we get it for ourselves,” Siegner said.
Against Western, Mark King struck out nine batters in five innings and Eli Gilley added five more strikeouts in relief.
Southern led 5-0 through five innings, but memories of a recent game lingered.
“That’s why I was never comfortable,” coach Jason Smith said.
The Patriots were positioned to clinch the title last Thursday night until a three-run lead vanished in the final inning when Cedar Ridge scored five runs in the top of the seventh to claim a 6-4 victory. The Red Wolves tied the game on John Grove’s two-run single, went ahead on a balk and extended the lead on a wild pitch.
Southern received a solo home run from Kaden Parker in the first inning, a two-run pop-fly double from Mark King and a bases-loaded walk from Cooper Partin to stake a 4-1 lead in the fourth. Gilley had been stout in relief until the seventh.
In the Western game, the Patriots scored in four different innings, with Parker’s run-scoring double in the third inning providing the first big spark. Western’s errors and walks contributed to Southern’s output before Partin’s two-run homer in the seventh.
Western pitchers issued 11 walks, with five drawn by Noah Madren.
“Everything was good last week and (this game) everything was equally bad,” Western coach Mitch Carter said. “Just need to clean it up.”
Parker and Gilley finished with two hits.
Southern, which will be home Tuesday against a to-be-determined opponent in the first round of the Class 3-A state playoffs, has added a non-conference game for Friday night at Eastern Randolph.
- Western swept Eastern Alamance last week, including Friday’s 7-1 road victory. Conner Horner homered for Eastern.
On Tuesday night in a make-up game, Western had runners at first and third base with no outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and didn’t score in a 3-2 loss to Cedar Ridge.
- Eastern lost 12-9 at Orange on Tuesday despite a home run from Tyler Westbrooks and three hits, including two doubles, from both Jarrett Newell and Kasen McGinness.
- Williams notched its first Central 3-A Conference victory with a 3-2 squeaker Friday at Orange.
On Tuesday night in their home finale, the Bulldogs lost 4-2 to Roxboro Person when the Rockets scored four seventh-inning runs. Williams had a two-out, run-scoring single from Liam KerrFinger in the second inning, while center fielder Aiden Pulliam’s defense helped keep Roxboro Person off the board in early innings.
Note: During an in-game ceremony, former Williams catcher Dan Mahan, who’s now on Duke’s football team as an early enrollee, was presented with a Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas commemorative ring for his participation in December’s football game.
Mid-Carolina Conference Tournament
Second-seeded Southeast Alamance defeated winless Jordan-Matthews 13-2 in Monday’s quarterfinals at home and then fell by 10-4 against third-seeded Northwood in the semifinal Tuesday in a game played at Seaforth.
The Northwood/Seaforth final is at 6:00 p.m. Thursday at Seaforth.
In last Thursday’s regular-season finale, Southeast lost 3-1 to visiting Seaforth. That gave Seaforth the regular-season title with an 11-1 league mark compared to Southeast’s 10-2 record.
NCISAA
Burlington Christian Academy (20-1) has a 12-game winning streak as it awaits the start of the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association’s state playoffs next week.
On Monday, the Royals won 12-1 in six innings at Trinity of Durham and Chapel Hill as Cooper Kelly threw a three-hitter, Mark Primm drove in three runs and Lofton Gonzalez had three hits.
Tuesday’s 17-3 six-inning romp at Thales Academy-Rolesville came with three runs batted in apiece from Primm, Cohen Payne and Anthony Valdez. Gib Wirt and Kelly, who had three hits, both scored three runs. Will Grubb pitched 5 1/3 innings.
