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Braylen Hayes

Post 45 Braylen Hayes swings v Rowan July2023

Hayes backtracks to Post 45, carves new path

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Braylen Hayes takes a swing for Randolph County Post 45 this summer. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

ASHEBORO – Braylen Hayes didn’t anticipate being back with Randolph County Post 45 this summer, but he’s glad that opportunity existed.

It’s turning out to be a good thing for Post 45 despite his unexpected availability.

The former standout outfielder for Randleman didn’t make it to the finish line in his first college season at UNC Greensboro.

“Just having too much fun in college. It went downhill and ended up not having the best grades,” Hayes said. “It was all on me. It’s good, though, I’m going to get back right.

Braylen Hayes will play next year for Guilford Tech. (Bob Sutton/Randolph Record)

Hayes is the center fielder and bats third in the lineup for Post 45, which will be the host team for the American Legion’s Southeast Regional next week at McCrary Park.

So this is a summer to regroup for Hayes, who has committed to attend Guilford Tech and play a season with that junior college team.

He was lined up to play for the Asheboro ZooKeepers, a summer college team in the Coastal Plain League. But when grades interfered and he dropped off the UNCG roster, he wasn’t eligible for that because he wasn’t in a college program.

“It was pretty hard,” Hayes said. “It was just weird. I had never had to go through anything like that. Had to figure out.”

And he needed a summer baseball destination.

“Would have had a crap summer, no baseball would be rough,” he said.

Fortunately for him, he’s young enough – just turning 19 – for another season of American Legion baseball. He also played for Post 45 last year.

Post 45 manager Ronnie Pugh said Hayes is a big part of the team.

“We know the things he can do,” Pugh said.

Hayes said he’s a much better player than last summer.

“Making more contact on balls, hard contact,” he said. “Knowing the strike zone a lot better from seeing pitching at the D-I level.”

Things didn’t go as Hayes planned at UNCG.

“I didn’t play the best in the fall. I was struggling a little bit,” he said. “Going from seeing alright arms, to really good arms really fast. It was just a huge jump. At the time, I wasn’t ready for it.”

When the 2023 season began, he was a reserve, gaining more playing time a few weeks into the season. Hayes batted .250 in nine games, including three starts. He was 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts.

Yet his time with the Spartans didn’t go for naught. That has been evident with Hayes’ throws from the outfield.

“UNCG, they’ve got a great throwing program,” he said. “My arm has gotten so much stronger.”

Hayes was on three high school state championship teams – one at Uwharrrie Charter Academy and two at Randleman. In 2022, he shared Player of the Year honors in the Piedmont Athletic Conference with teammate future Boston Red Sox draft pick Brooks Brannon.

Now Hayes wants to turn the detour into something good after the Guilford Tech season.

“Go to a bigger D-I, hopefully,” he said.

Post 45 Grat Dalton out at plate v Cleveland County June2023

Post 45 makes most of home action

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Randolph County Post 45’s Grat Dalton reaches for the plate but is tagged out by Cleveland County Post 82 catcher Hagan Hoyle. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

 

ASHEBORO – Randolph County Post 45 won all three games it completed in its first games this year at McCrary Park in Asheboro.

The weekend victories against three different opponents pushed Post 45’s record to 14-1.

With stadium renovations incomplete, the Randolph County team played road games or at Randleman High School in the first few weeks of the season. Then games early last week were rained out.

The three-day event at McCrary Park began with a game with Morgantown (W.Va.) Post 2 suspended by lightning Friday night with Post 45 up 4-0 in the third inning. The game ended up being cancelled.

Post 45 defeated Cleveland County Post 82 by 4-1 with Samuel Asbill logging six innings and Tanner Marsh finishing on the mound in Saturday’s first game. Marsh doubled twice and drove in two runs.

The dramatics came against St. Mary’s (Md.) Post 255 on Saturday night. Braylen Hayes hit a game-winning three-run home run to complete a comeback to lift Post 45 to a 7-4 victory.

Post 45 rallied from a 4-1 deficit. The four-run seventh included Hunter Atkins driving in the tying run. Robert Garner was the winning pitcher with three innings of no-hit relief.

On Sunday, Hayes knocked in three runs in a 14-5 triumph against Morgantown. Connor Adams was the winning pitcher. Hayes, Marsh, Atkins, Pierce Leonard and Josh Meadows were all credited with two hits.

Post 45 Pierce Leonard batting spring2023

Returnees help Post 45 hit early groove

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Pierce Leonard takes a swing for Randolph County Post 45. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

Randolph County Post 45 has been off a strong start to the American Legion baseball season.

The team has a good core of returning players who’ve produced across the first couple of weeks of the season.

Post 45 had a 7-1 record – capped with a 5-4 victory at Davidson County last week – before a five-day break in the schedule. The team is slated to be back in action this week.

The lone loss came by a 3-2 score at Rowan County. Twelve days later, Post 45 avenged the loss with a 10-5 home victory.

Tyler Parks drove in four runs in that triumph, while Ethan Frye and Braylen Hayes homered. Samuel Asbill was the winning pitcher.

Parks, Hayes, Tanner Marsh, Adam Cole, Josh Meadows, Drew Harmon, Connor Adams, Alex Martinez and Robert Garner are returnees from the 2022 team who’ve been key contributors this season.

Hayes homered twice as part of an 8-RBI night and Marsh scored four runs in a home romp past Davidson County. Meadows homered in a game at Mocksville-Davie County.

Cole won’t be with the team much longer as he reports for classes this month at East Carolina, where he’ll join the football program. Post 45 manager Ronnie Pugh said he welcomed Cole’s participation this spring even though he knew it would be on a short-term basis.

Outfielder Carter Brown, since helping Uwharrie Charter Academy to a Class 1-A state championship, has been produced upon joining Post 45. He drove in three runs in the Rowan County and Davidson County games.

Pitcher Drake Purvis, who was coming off surgery and didn’t pitch until late in the high school season for Randleman, has been a boost to the pitching staff along with high school teammate Austin Lemons.

Other Post 45 newcomers include former Randleman standout Hunter Atkins plus Ethan Frye and Pierce Leonard from Eastern Randolph’s team.

Because of delayed completion of renovations at McCrary Park in Asheboro, Post 45 has played home games at Randleman High School. The team has practiced at McCrary Park and should be playing games there by the end of next week. Last Wednesday’s home game against Mooresville was cancelled because of weather-related concerns.

Post 45 player Alex Martinez in Aug2022

Post 45 could have core of roster back next year

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Alex Martinez, shown here batting for Randolph County Post 45 during the Southeast Regional earlier this month in Asheboro, could be among the team’s returning players for 2023. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

 

ASHEBORO – When the season ended for Randolph County Post 45 earlier this month, it was a downer.

The team lost back-to-back games to be eliminated from the Southeast Regional in American Legion baseball in its home ballpark.

Yet there might have been a ray of hope regarding the future that day at McCrary Park.

“Only three of our 17 players are gone,” Randolph County manager Ronnie Pugh said. “We could have a lot of these guys back.”
Post 45 ended up with a 31-13 record this year. It was an automatic regional entrant based on its role as the host team.

Given the experience on Randolph County’s team, it might have seemed strange that only three of the players will age out. Pugh said that trio is right fielder Blake Marsh, second baseman Tatum Marsh and catcher/utility player Trey Way. All three of them were pitchers as well.

Granted, those are significant losses because all three usually occupied spots within the top five pegs in the batting order.

Blake Marsh (Catawba) and Tatum Marsh (Brunswick Community College) spent the 2021-22 school year at post-secondary school stops, while Way was a 2022 senior on Randleman’s second consecutive Class 2-A state championship team. Way is beginning his freshman year at Virginia Tech.

Several other Post 45 players will be heading to post-high school programs during the school year that’s just starting. That includes center fielder Braylen Hayes at UNC Greensboro, catcher Alex Martinez at Brunswick Community College and pitcher Robert Garner at Wake Tech.

Other Post 45 starters are rising high school seniors. That list includes left fielder Adam Cole (Southwestern Randolph), third baseman Tyler Parks (Southwestern Randolph), shortstop Tanner Marsh (Asheboro) and first baseman Josh Meadows (Asheboro). Several other players still in high school – such as Grant Little (Uwharrie Charter Academy), Drew Harmon (Montgomery Central) and Connor Adams — were part of this year’s postseason contributors.

In some cases, the 2023 college players or high school seniors might opt for other summer destinations rather than American Legion baseball.

After losing the Area 3 title game to Rowan County, Post 45 went 2-2 in both the state tournament and the Southeast Regional.

“We’ll get back out there and start recruiting,” Pugh said of encouraging eligible players to participate in American Legion baseball.

So there would be a strong quest for Post 45 to contend for a spot in the 2023 American Legion World Series in Shelby.

Earlier this month in Shelby, Troy Post 70 became the first Alabama entry two win the American Legion World Series since 1967 by defeating two-time defending champion Idaho Falls (Idaho) Post 56 in the championship game.

Camden (S.C.) Post 17, which won the Southeast Regional in Asheboro, went 1-2 in World Series bracket play and failed to advance to the semifinal round. Camden’s lone victory came against eventual champion Troy.

Post 45 final handshake

Season fizzles on Post 45 in elimination loss

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Randolph County Post 45 team members go through their final postgame handshake line of the season Saturday at McCrary Park.

ASHEBORO – This Randolph County Post 45 baseball team seemed built for big things.

Too many big innings for opponents became the undoing for the host team in the American Legion’s Southeast Regional.

“I definitely think we could have had a better season than this,” left fielder Adam Cole said.

The end came with a 15-5 loss to Wilmington Post 10 in an elimination game Saturday at McCrary Park. The game was reduced to five innings by the mercy rule, with Wilmington racking up the final 15 runs.

With back-to-back losses, Post 45 (31-13) was finished. That left three other teams from the original eight-team field left to determine the qualifier for next week’s American Legion World Series.

“I thought we were going to run through this,” Randolph County center fielder/pitcher Braylen Hayes said. “It’s all about how you play as a team.”

Just like the state tournament a week earlier, Post 45 began with two victories and then exited with losses in its next two games.

“A tough two weeks,” Post 45 manager Ronnie Pugh said. “With all the injuries, it’s pretty remarkable really that we were able to come out and win a couple games (in each tournament).”

The ailments had piled up, with a pitching staff reduced by injuries, shortstop Tanner Marsh limping around all week, Blake Marsh dealing with a sore wrist and catcher Alex Martinez hampered by a bashed finger.

Yet the most unpredictable development involved Post 45’s Trey Way, who had played five positions in the field across the first three days of the regional and was slated to be the catcher Saturday. Hours before the game, Way became ill because of an allergic reaction. He was held out of the lineup and then departed during the second rain delay for additional care.

Even with that, it started well for Post 45. Randolph County scored two runs before the first out, beginning the game with three singles and notching the first run on a wild pitch. Cole drove in a run with a single, but Hayes was thrown out at the plate on the play. Martinez roped a two-out, two-run single and Tyler Parks followed with an RBI single.

A 9-minute rain delay preceded starting pitcher Robert Garner throwing his first pitch in the bottom of the inning. Wilmington’s Logan Ponnett hammered a two-run homer in the bottom of the first before an out was recorded. After five Post 10 batters took their turns, there was a 53-minute halt.

The frame ended with a 5-3 score and Wilmington leaving the bases loaded.

Connor Kane’s grand slam on an 0-2 pitch from Garner with two outs in the bottom of the second inning gave Wilmington its first lead. Post 10 scored in every inning, with Post 45 using three pitchers but none could slow down Wilmington’s 14-hit barrage.

“We came in here lacking pitching,” Hayes said.

Still, Post 45 was stacked. There were veteran players along with newcomers Hayes and Way, who were standouts on Randleman’s second consecutive Class 2-A state championship team from the high school season. North Carolina recruit Tyler Parks was available for the postseason, Blake Marsh and Tatum Marsh had been in college programs, and Pugh could field a team with all-star credentials at about every position.

“We won 30-some games,” Pugh said. “Stuff hit at times. Maybe we were a couple of arms short.”

Blake Marsh and Cole both had two hits in the finale.

Much of the core of the team is eligible to return. Players have called it a positive experience.

“I loved it,” Hayes said of American Legion baseball. “Every second was fun for me.”

Saturday’s results

Wilmington 15, Randolph County 5 (Randolph County eliminated)

Rock Hill, S.C. vs. Camden, S.C., delayed

Post 45 coaches at states

Problems pile up on Post 45 in first regional loss

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Randolph County Post 45 coaches Ryan Hill, left, Ronnie Pugh and Andrew Conner will need a plan to win three more games in the Southeast Regional. (File photo)

Randolph County needs turnaround to extend season

ASHEBORO — It didn’t start well for Randolph County Post 45. Then it got worse Friday night.

Yet if there’s a good omen for the host team in Southeast Regional for American Legion baseball, things are bound to get better this weekend.

Or else the season will come to a disheartening conclusion.

“It’s an eye-opener,” Post 45 catcher Alex Martinez said after the 12-7 loss to Camden (S.C.) Post 17 at McCrary Park. “We have to come play and play harder. Need a lot more energy.”

The eight-team field in the double-elimination tournament has been cut in half, with only Camden with an unblemished mark.

Post 45 (31-12) meets North Carolina state champion Wilmington Post 10 in Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. elimination game. Camden, which is guaranteed of advancing to Sunday, takes on South Carolina state champion Rock Hill Post 34 in Saturday night’s nightcap.

Randolph County pitchers gave up 15 hits and five walks and were dinged by the team’s three fielding errors.

“A couple errors lead to more errors,” Martinez said. “Things started to fall apart. Not a lot of energy going on.”

The miscues extended to offense. Three Randolph County innings ended with base-running blunders.

“I don’t think I want to really replay that one,” Post 45 manager Ronnie Pugh said of the game. “When we’re on, we’re good. But we were sure bad (in this game).”

Camden scored two unearned first-inning runs. By the time Post 17 put on a third-inning hitting clinic to score five runs, it was 8-1.

“I felt they swung the bats really well and they were hitting it,” starting pitcher Tatum Marsh said. “We’ll learn from it.”

Trey Way, Connor Adams, Drew Harmon and Braylen Hayes were also used on the mound, with only Adams, who worked one inning, going unscored upon.

Yet Post 45 racked up 11 hits, with Tatum Marsh, Blake Marsh, Adam Cole and Josh Meadows all recording two.

Randolph County got on the board on Tatum Marsh’s two-out single in the second. Cole stroked an RBI double in the third.

Post 45 closed within 10-5 on Tyler Parks’ two-out, two-run single in the fifth. A wild pitch resulted in another run.

Adams worked into and out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth without yielding a run.

In the bottom of the inning, Tanner Marsh’s sacrifice fly with the bases loaded made it 10-7, but that’s all Post 45 got when Cole lined out to right end to end the threat.

Randolph County and Wilmington didn’t meet in last week’s state tournament.

Friday’s results

Rock Hill, S.C. 7, Belleview, Fla. 3 (Belleview eliminated)

Wilmington 18, Evans, Ga. 0 (Evans eliminated)

Camden, S.C. 12, Randolph County 7

Braylen Hayes bats for Post 45

Hayes caps Post 45 drama in late-night Southeast Regional win

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Braylen Hayes had the final hit for Randolph County Post 45 in its extra-inning victory against Evans (Ga.) in the Southeast Regional. (File photo)

ASHEBORO – Braylen Hayes wanted the chance to end Thursday night’s game in the Southeast Regional.

The Randolph County Post 45 center fielder didn’t miss on that.

“It works at the end, that’s all that matters,” Hayes said. “I knew (it was the winning hit) because Blake (Marsh) can move pretty good. He’s going to score.”

Hayes belted a double off the wall in left field with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, allowing Marsh to score from first base with the winning run in the 3-2 victory against Evans (Ga.) Post 192 in American Legion baseball at McCrary Park.

“He said (before going to the plate) that this game was over,” Post 45 manager Ronnie Pugh said of Hayes. “He didn’t say how.”

Randolph County (31-11) will meet Camden (S.C.) Post 17 at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the winners’ bracket. They’re the two remaining undefeated teams.

Until the game reached extra innings, it was another showcase for Post 45’s Tanner Marsh, who has hobbled around the field for two games and produced an alarming rate.

Hampered by an ailing left hamstring, he has come through at the plate and in the field.

“Sometimes you just have to push through,” Tanner Marsh said. “I’ll play all week.”

He drove in Randolph County’s first two runs and ended up as the winning pitcher with three innings of relief.

“He always steps up,” Pugh said. “You can’t get him out of the lineup. He told me today to throw away my eraser.”

Pugh adjusted the initial lineup configuration a bit, moving Tanner Marsh to third base rather than shortstop so any mobility issues would be less of a factor. Trey Way, an established shortstop who was the catcher Wednesday night, took the shortstop spot.

In the eighth, Blake Marsh reached on a one-out infield single. Then it was Hayes’ turn and he smacked his first hit of the regional for the most dramatic conclusion so far in the regional.

“Sometimes you have to win one like that,” Pugh said.

Hayes said it was his first walk-off hit in recent memory in this type of situation. During the past high school season, any walk-off hit for Randleman came in a mercy-rule situation.

Post 45 starting pitcher Blake Marsh made it through four innings. Just seconds after he dodged a bases-loaded jam to end the top of the fourth, umpires halted play for what became a 62-minute lightning delay.

Post 45 scored in the second inning when Hayes walked and later scored on Tanner Marsh’s sacrifice fly. Randolph County got its second run in the fourth, with a couple of misplayed fly balls resulting in the run.

Tyler Parks took over for Randolph County on the mound and yielded a fifth-inning run on Matthew Roa’s run-scoring double.

On the next batter, left fielder Adam Cole’s sliding catch of Chesney Lepard’s line drive toward the gap notched the second out and prevented the tying run from scoring.

Tanner Marsh went to the mound with two runners on base and no outs in the sixth. He worked out of the mess and the Post 45 lead stood at 2-1.

Evans put a runner on second with no outs in the seventh. Charlie Bussey came around from second base to score on a groundout. If he had been out at the plate, the game would have ended.

Tatum Marsh had two of Post 45’s eight hits.

Thursday’s scores

Wilmington 9, Owensboro, Ky. 4 (Owensboro eliminated)

Rock Hill, S.C. 11, Columbia, Tenn. 3 (Columbia eliminated)

Camden, S.C. 9, Belleview, Fla. 7

Randolph County 3, Evans, Ga. 2, 8 innings

Post 45 Tanner Marsh pitching

Right on time: Post 45 hits stride

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Tanner Marsh has been a key factor as a shortstop and pitcher for Randolph County Post 45. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

Randolph County roars into postseason on hot streak

ASHEBORO — It took a little time for Randolph County Post 45 to figure it out.

The timing, though, is ideal.

The American Legion baseball team has been riding a hot streak that began with the second part of the regular season and has extended into the postseason.

“We’re coming together as a team and understanding how to play with each other,” outfielder Adam Cole said.

That tends to be the sentiment.

“We started connecting,” said shortstop Tanner Marsh. “Really got to know each other. Just being around each other and getting to know each other makes baseball more fun.”

Randolph County is 27-8 and secured a spot in the North Carolina state tournament by sweeping Kannapolis Post 115 in a best-of-5 Area 3 semifinal series, capped with Monday night’s 15-2 road victory. 

Post 45 has won 17 of 19 games after a rather mundane start to the season.

There’s a winner-take-all Area 3 title game vs. Rowan County at 7 p.m. Friday at Catawba College in Salisbury. The state tournament is next week in Buies Creek.

Post 45 manager Ronnie Pugh has finally had roster stability, something that has taken time.

Outfielder Braylen Hayes and utility player Trey Way arrived from Randleman’s Class 2-A state championship team. First baseman Josh Meadows is on board after a broken hand during the high school season with Asheboro. Third baseman Tyler Parks out of Southwestern Randolph missed the Area 3 quarterfinal series last week because he was with a travel ball team, but he’s on board the rest of the way with Post 45.

“Our team chemistry is there,” said Parks, who missed about 10 of Randolph County’s games. “The more we play together, the more we learn about each other.”

Way had been with the High Point Hushpuppies in the Old North State League, a college summer circuit, last month. But the rising Virginia Tech freshman said his college coaches wanted him to get more plate appearances, so switching to Post 45 made sense.

“We have a lot of good players,” Way said. “It just took a couple of games to learn to play together. I think it’s clicking now, so I can’t wait to watch what this team can do.”

Pitcher Grant Little out of Trinity has been dealing with a shoulder ailment, but the pitching staff otherwise looks rather stocked.

Pugh said he hopes a challenging schedule has prepared Post 45 along the way.

“We played probably our best schedule we’ve ever had, and that might have played into it,” he said of some of the early defeats.

Cole, a returning player with Post 45, said it was a bit startling with how the opening weeks of the season went.

“I didn’t expect that at all,” he said, then noting the turnaround. “This is Post 45 baseball right here.”

Now it’s a matter of keeping it going.

“I don’t want to get our heads too big,” Tanner Marsh said.

 In cruise control

Randolph County won three games shortened by the mercy rule in the best-of-5 semifinals, topping Kannapolis by 11-1 and 12-0 at McCrary Park on the weekend.

In Monday’s series clincher, Blake Marsh was the winning pitcher in his first start on the mound this season. Marsh also drove in two runs along with Hayes, Drew Harmon, and Tatum Marsh.

In Saturday night’s Game 1, Hayes went 3-for-4, and Tanner Marsh, who pitched five innings, homered. 

On Sunday night, Hayes smashed a grand slam in a 10-run third inning, drilling the first pitch from Kannapolis reliever Jack Brandle. Starting pitcher Robert Garner allowed one base runner in four innings. Hayes and Harmon each had two hits.

In the quarterfinals, Post 45 rolled to 14-0 and 9-0 victories against Mooresville Post 66 in the best-of-3 series. Due to field availability in Asheboro, Game 1 was played at Mooresville, with Post 45 using Way’s 3-for-4 effort at the plate along with four runs batted in from both Harmon and Tanner Marsh. Garner threw four innings, and Hayes worked the fifth to complete the five-inning romp.

In Game 2 at McCrary Park, Randolph County rode the pitching of Way, Blake Marsh, and Connor Adams to secure another shutout and clinch the series. Blake Marsh supplied a three-run triple in the second inning after Post 45 scored twice in the first inning on Tanner Marsh’s run-scoring double and Way’s RBI single. Cole and Tatum Marsh had two-out singles in the third to stretch the gap to 8-0. Carson Whitehead’s single drove in a fifth-inning run.