Eastern Randolph, baseball
[themify_hr color=”light-gray”]
Graham played a variety of positions for the Wildcats, often in the infield as the third baseman. He also was listed as a pitcher.
The Wildcats reached the Class 1-A West Region finals before falling to eventual state champion Uwharrie Charter Academy.
Graham is set to continue playing baseball at Guilford College.
** During the summer, we recognize seniors from the past school year.
Jake Hunter’s pitching has given Uwharrie Charter Academy a boost. (Randolph Record)
Eastern Randolph and Uwharrie Charter Academy took different paths to the third round of the Class 1-A state playoffs in baseball.
Each team won twice in the first week of the state playoffs.
No. 21 seed Eastern Randolph (6-17) won two road games, beginning with a 9-5 ousting of No. 12 seed Mount Airy.
Then the Wildcats went to No. 5 seed Hayesville, where Friday night’s game was suspended in the fifth inning. Eastern Randolph ended up with a 5-2 victory when the game concluded Saturday.
Eastern Randolph heads to No. 13 seed Highland Tech on Tuesday.
Second-seeded UCA (16-10) had a smoother time, stopping No. 18 seed Bishop McGuinness 10-4 as Jake Hunter threw five shutout innings.
Earlier in the week, UCA topped No. 31 seed Queen’s Grant 12-5 with Ben Medinger hitting a home run and Brett Smith notching the pitching victory.
UCA has a third-round home game vs. No. 10 seed North Stokes on Tuesday.
Class 2-A
In the first round, Trinity, which reached the regional semifinals last year, lost to No. 17 seed East Gaston by 6-4. The No. 16 seeded Bulldogs (15-11) received two hits from Jake Little. Cade Hill was the losing pitcher.
No. 18 seed Providence Grove lost 1-0 at No. 15 seed Forbush, which scored with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Andrew Thomas pitched the complete game for the Patriots (14-11).
No. 29 seed Wheatmore lost 7-0 at No. 4 seed West Stokes. The Warriors ended up with an 8-14 record.
Top-seeded Burns topped No. 32 seed Southwestern Randolph 10-8. Eli Gravely drove in four runs and Adam Cole had three hits and scored two runs for the Cougars (9-15), who nearly rallied from a 9-2 deficit.
Class 3-A
At Salisbury, Asheboro’s season came to a close with Friday night’s 11-6 loss at No. 10 seed East Rowan.
Tanner Marsh scored twice and knocked in two runs for the No. 26 seed Blue Comets (13-12).
Asheboro began the playoffs by winning 13-7 at seventh-seeded Enka with Cohen Caviness collecting four hits and four runs batted in and Marsh scoring three runs and driving in three runs. Connor Adams was the winning pitcher.
Eastern Randolph team members gather after Wednesday night’s loss at Southern Alamance.
MT. HERMON – Brent Haynes took his Eastern Randolph baseball team to face his alma mater Wednesday night, but he was watching from a distance for the final few innings.
So the outcome didn’t go as preferred for the Wildcats, who had late-game struggles in a 17-11 road loss to Southern Alamance.
A controversial play in the bottom of the fourth inning stirred emotions after what already was shaping up as a high-scoring game. Haynes, a first-year coach, was dismissed by the umpires as part of the fallout.
Then Southern Alamance’s nine-run sixth inning turned out to be the big blow.
“It’s kind of embarrassing,” Haynes said of the situation in general, calling out the two-man umpiring crew. “It’s tough to come back here and get run.”
Eastern Randolph appeared to escape the bottom of the fourth inning when Southern Alamance’s Nathan Teague was called out on an attempted steal of third base. The umpires conferred and changed the call, so the Wildcats had to go back onto the field following a prolonged argument.
Tensions grew when Southern Alamance’s Braxton Cain extended the inning with a two-run single to trim Eastern Randolph’s lead to 9-8.
“There’s no way a home plate umpire can overturn a stolen base,” Haynes said.
Before the top of the fifth, Eastern Randolph assistant coach Logan Beasley was ejected. Per high school rules, that led to the disqualification of Haynes as well.
“I hate that it went down like that,” said Southern Alamance coach Jason Smith, who was Haynes’ high school coach.
The game already had various twists and turns.
Starting pitcher Lucas Smith of Eastern Randolph hit a two-run home run in the second inning.
The Wildcats trailed 6-2 before rallying with two outs in the third. Alex Kivett provided a two-run single on a full-count pitch before a pair of wild pitches allowed Eastern Randolph to tie the score.
Pierce Leonard’s three-run double with two outs in the fourth put the Wildcats on top 9-6.
Later, Leonard was hit by a pitch to force in a run in the sixth for a 10-8 lead before Southern Alamance’s big uprising.
Haynes, who was a member of Southern Alamance’s 2005 state championship team, had been an assistant coach with the Patriots. Last summer, he left to take the Eastern Randolph job.
“I’m glad to be in Randolph County with different umpires,” Haynes said.
Eastern Randolph (1-8) has lost five games by three runs or less.
“We’re the best 1-8 team in the state,” Haynes said. “We should be sitting in a lot different situation than we are. … We’re right there. It hasn’t completely gotten there yet.”
Southern Alamance’s four pitchers issued a combined 13 walks. The Patriots improved to 5-4.
RAMSEUR – Brent Haynes figured that he would land a job as a head coach for a baseball team when the right opportunity came around.
Eastern Randolph athletics director Foster Cates had the same thing in mind for Haynes.
So this week, Haynes begins his first season as coach of the Wildcats.
“I’m pumped up. I’ve always wanted to have my own program,” Haynes said. “To have the opportunity present itself is pretty exciting for me.”
Eastern Randolph was in need of a coach last summer after Mitchell Frazier stepped away.
“I had been telling (Haynes) that when we had an opening that I would be calling him,” Cates said. “And I did.”
Haynes, 35, is a Southern Alamance alum and a former pitching coach with the Patriots. He also has coached with Impact Baseball and, most recently, Dirtbags, a pair of prominent travel ball programs.
As a player in high school, Haynes was a pitcher and third baseman for Southern Alamance. In his junior season in 2005, the Patriots won the Class 3-A state championship and he was selected as the Most Valuable Player of the title series.
“It’s not a surprise to me (that he has a head-coaching role),” said Southern Alamance coach Jason Smith, who coached Haynes in high school. “In high school, he was always a leader and a thinker.”
Haynes played collegiately for Young Harris in Georgia and for Mount Olive. From there, his coaching roles have included multiple stints with Southern Alamance, a couple of years as Guilford Tech’s pitching coach and a season at Chapel Hill High School.
He coached a Dirtbags age-group team for several years as it rose through the ranks, including last summer. Infielders Hunter Atkins of Randleman and Tyler Parks of Southwestern Randolph played for Haines’ team with the Dirtbags.
Those relationships remain in place.
“He came up with our group, just a great guy, great coach,” Atkins said. “I love talking to him. I helped him with the field over there (at Eastern Randolph) and he helped me with some pitching.”
Haynes had been teaching at Southern Alamance Middle School before taking a spot this school year as a physical education teacher at Eastern Randolph.
The Wildcats were 9-17 overall and 4-8 in the Piedmont Athletic Conference last year. Eastern Randolph hasn’t had a winning season since going 15-9 in 2017.
“I think we’ve got a chance to be pretty good,” Haynes said. “We’ve got a good mixture of some seniors and some underclassmen who are going to be in the lineup every day.”
Former Randleman football coach Shane Handy stepped away from his coaching job after two seasons at Clayton High School. His resignation was announced last week.
The Comets went 8-2 in the restructured 2020 season (played in the spring semester of 2021). Then they were 5-6 with a first-round loss to Heritage in the Class 4-A state playoffs in the 2021 fall season.
Handy’s teams at Randleman went a combined 95-53 in 12 seasons.
Baseball highlights
Eastern Randolph pitcher Stratton Barwick struck out 11 batters in a 2-0 blanking of visiting Southwestern Randolph.
In the rematch later in the week, Southwestern Randolph rode Tyler Parks’ 10 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings to a 5-4 home victory.
Josh Meadows of Asheboro had a grand slam in last week’s 12-1 non-conference victory against Wheatmore.
Softball success
Wheatmore softball pitcher Carmen Turgeon was credited with a perfect game in an 18-0 romp past visiting Trinity on Friday. The game was reduced to three innings because of the mercy rule. Turgeon struck out six. Teammates Karleigh Hunt (four RBI), Maddie Nichols (three RBI) and Avery Dykes (three RBI) were among the offensive standouts.