Menu

Prep baseball

Randleman coach Jake Smith

With lofty standard, Tigers just roll with it into state finals

, , , , , ,

Coach Jake Smith has directed Randleman back to another spot in the state finals. A familiar foe awaits. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

RANDLEMAN — All those lopsided results for Randleman’s baseball team on the way to the Class 2-A state finals don’t mean it has been easy this year for the Tigers.

“We can’t take any team lightly,” first baseman Gus Shelton said. “We are expected to win and that is pressure on us, if you want to call it pressure. I don’t think anybody has changed anything. We’re just taking it game-by-game.”

It will take two more victories to repeat as state champions. Whiteville is the opponent, beginning with Game 1 of the best-of-3 series at 8 p.m. Friday at Burlington Athletic Stadium. Game 2 is at 2 p.m. Saturday, with a third game, if necessary, later in the day.

Randleman (31-1) has won 15 games in a row since a loss to Catawba Ridge, a team from South Carolina in a spring break tournament in Charleston, S.C.

Whiteville (23-3) holds a 21-game winning streak. The Wolfpack has gone more than two months since losing to Class 4-A teams New Hanover and Wilmington Laney and splitting a non-conference set with St. Pauls – three opponents that combined for a 50-22 record. The Wolfpack beat St. Pauls in a third meeting by 10-5 in the third round of the state playoffs.

Randleman lost only two core players from last year’s team. So it has been clear that the Tigers would be viewed as a favorite this time around.

“It’s hard,” junior third baseman Hunter Atkins said. “We have a target on our back. They’re coming for us. Just got to stay rolling. They’re shooting for us.”

The Tigers are aware of that.

“To me, that makes it harder,” shortstop Trey Way said. “Everybody is out to get you at that point, if everybody expects you there (in the finals). We’re just playing Tiger baseball.”

Randleman has rarely been challenged, winning its last seven games by shutouts – six of those cut short by the mercy rule. That’s OK with the Tigers.

“Coach (Jake Smith) always says you want to be chased,” Shelton said. “You never want to chase down. You want to stay at the top of the mountain. It’s definitely nice. It’s always fun to win.”

Smith said the Tigers enjoyed the 2021 title for several weeks, but got back to work.

“They made a commitment to get back here,” he said. “We expect to win every year. Anything less than to have an opportunity to play for a state championship isn’t up to our standards.”

Atkins and then-freshman pitcher Drake Purvis had key roles last year, joining what’s now a strong senior class. Ryan White, who was the Most Valuable Player of the state finals last season, and Purvis have been the main pitchers this year. 

“We really only lost two dudes last year,” Atkins said. “More chemistry, for sure, playing together more.”

This year’s team includes senior catcher Brooks Brannon, who has tied the state record with 20 home runs and set the RBI state mark with 87.

Randleman’s starting lineup has seven seniors, with four of them Division I signees (and two other underclassmen committed to Division I programs) and another senior Division II recruit. Way is one of them and he wants to soak in the rest of his high school career before playing for Virginia Tech.

“It’s a blast,” Way said. “I try to hang on to every last second I can. It’s senior year.”

Trey Way HR trot May20 2022 - Crop

Finding the Way: Randleman takes normal path to another rout

, , , , , , ,

Trey Way and his teammates react to his game-sealing home run Friday night against East Surry. (PJ Ward-Brown / Randolph Record)

Tigers ruin showdown, head to regional final

RANDLEMAN – The fourth round of the Class 2-A state playoffs shaped up as an epic showdown between two one-loss baseball teams.

As the national anthem played, the line at the entrance gate had dozens of fans waiting to get in – and stayed that way for quite a while.

The scene at Joe Brookshire Field had all the makings of a classic.

Then Randleman did its thing – again.

The Tigers took down another opponent with authority, its fourth consecutive run-rule victory in the state playoffs. This time, it was a 10-0 decision against fourth-seeded East Surry.

“We’re not surprised,” sophomore left fielder Seth Way said. “We’re just having fun for now.”

Older brother Trey Way, a senior shortstop, hammered two home runs, including the game-clinching blast to the opposite field over the right-field fence on the second pitch of the bottom of the fifth.

“They’re a great team,” Trey Way said. “We just came out and we just swung it. We threw it. We threw strikes. And we took care of business.”

As usual, because it all seemed familiar.

“A great atmosphere,” Randleman coach Jake Smith said. “Our guys just love coming out here and playing when it’s like this. We just go into games trying to compete the best we can.”

Top-seeded Randleman (29-1) takes on No. 15 seed Community School of Davidson (17-6), which rallied to top visiting Trinity 6-5 on Friday night, in a best-of-3 regional final. Game 1 is set for Tuesday night at Randleman, while the Tigers go on the road for Thursday’s Game 2. If a third game is needed, it will be Friday or Saturday at Randleman.

The Tigers didn’t score in the first inning of the East Surry game, then went to work with Seth Way’s solo homer – his fourth long ball of the season – and Trey Way’s three-run shot in the second.

“Keep the gas pedal down,” right fielder Bryson Sweatt said. “That’s the difference between the good teams and the great teams. I don’t see anybody coming close to us if we play our baseball.”

Randleman knows the deal on ending games early.

A two-out throwing error provided two more runs in the third. Gus Shelton’s fly into shallow right field with two outs in the fourth plated two more when miscommunication from the Cardinals (24-2) resulted in a double, followed by Ryan White’s RBI single. Sweatt’s double was another key hit earlier in the inning.

Trey Way capped it in the next inning, marking his second two-homer, four-RBI outing of the week. That was the Tigers’ single-season state record 56th home run.

“When we stick to our approach and our pitchers get out there and throw strikes and do what they do, it’s never out of the possibility of run-ruling any team we play,” Trey Way said. “If we just do what we do and play how we play, we can get it done.”

Drake Purvis notched a five-inning shutout for the third week in a row despite giving up a game-opening single to Luke Bowman. In the fourth, a hit batter and double allowed East Surry to threaten, but Purvis struck out the next three batters.

Randleman is unscored upon in the state playoffs and for the last five games overall.

The Tigers began the week with a 17-0 trouncing of No. 25 seed Mount Pleasant in the third round with Seth Way providing four of the team’s 16 hits. Hunter Atkins, who knocked in four runs, Brooks Brannon, who drove in three, and Braylen Hayes all homered. Trey Way scored four times, while Atkins and Shelton both scored three runs. White pitched the first four innings without allowing a hit and striking out eight before Seth Way worked the last inning.

Gage Miller Asheboro baseball

Miller’s slam gives Blue Comets memorable baseball opener

,

Gage Miller remembers the details of his final at-bat in the season opener for Asheboro’s baseball team.

After that, it becomes a little less clear.

Miller’s game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning sent the Blue Comets to a 5-3 victory against Chatham Central last week at Kiwanis Park in Asheboro.

“That was something different right there,” Miller said. “My teammates were fired up. Came across home plate and we were all going crazy.”

Miller said it’s his first grand slam. Of course, it came at an ideal time.

The Blue Comets needed his production. “The game wasn’t going as we planned,” he said.

So with the bases jammed, Miller step to the plate with one out. There was a fastball in the dirt before he chased a curve ball. Then he swung at a high fastball.

From there, he said coach Brett Hoogkamp helped calm the situation. Then another curveball was on the way.

“He hung it and I didn’t miss it,” Miller said.

That resulted in a rather emphatic bat flip, one caught on video. Miller said his parents weren’t happy with that reaction and that Hoogkamp discussed it with him the next day.

“The bat flip was a little too much,” Miller said. “My adrenalin was just through the roof. I don’t even remember running around the bases.”

At the beginning of that trot, he had to shoo away teammate Josh Meadows who approached the first-base line in an early celebration.

Miller, a junior, is a third baseman who also has been used regularly as a relief pitcher. After last year’s solid season for the Blue Comets, he said his role is expanding.

“I came off a hot season last year,” he said. “We lost a couple of key seniors (from the 2021 team) and I knew I’d have to step up.”

Miller has been with the varsity since his freshman season. In last year’s abbreviated season, he smacked two home runs. He credits his work with hitting instructor Neal Pritchard, an Asheboro alum and former minor leaguer in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, for helping his development.

Miller has made a verbal commitment to play collegiately for North Carolina State.

To begin this week, Miller had another late-game turn at the plate with the bases loaded against Jordan-Matthews. This time, he drew a walk in Monday’s 9-1 home victory.