Several alums from Randolph County schools have produced notable opening stretches in their collegiate baseball careers.
Providence Grove alum Luke Thomas was the winning pitcher in his collegiate debut, throwing 1 2/3 shutout innings when UNC Greensboro defeated Northeastern on Feb. 18 in the second game of the season. The Spartans scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The next day, Thomas took the loss when giving up four late-inning runs to Northeastern.
In the season’s second week, Thomas had two outings against Notre Dame, throwing one hitless inning in the second game of the series and, the next day, three shutout innings with five strikeouts in the series finale.
He added his first collegiate save March 1 with two shutout innings in a 4-1 home victory against Elon.
Then this past weekend, Thomas was the winning pitcher when the Spartans began a three-game sweep of visiting Rutgers. Thomas threw two shutout innings in the 3-2 outcome.
In the series finale against Rutgers, Randleman alum Matt Kemp, a junior, improved to 2-0 this season with a shutout inning in the Spartans’ 10-9, 10-inning victory.
White has mixed outings
Randleman alum Ryan White pitched in the season opener for Western Carolina, making his collegiate debut vs. Akron. His stint came to begin the ninth inning, striking out his first batter.
But an error and a pair of walks preceded Ian Pennington’s game-tying grand slam. The Zips went on to win 14-12.
Last week, White posted 1 2/3 hitless innings at Gardner-Webb and then he logged a shutout inning in a 10-3 victory against visiting Eastern Kentucky.
Gardner honored twice
Former Eastern Randolph baseball player Brody Gardner has had a strong start to his collegiate career with Greensboro College. The freshman outfielder was a two-time USA South Conference Rookie of the Week in February.
Brody Gardner at Greensboro College.
He received the conference’s first rookie honor of the season as a result of a .350 batting average and driving in two runs when the Pride won two of three games against Lynchburg.
The next week, Gardner batted .316 with three doubles, two runs batted in and scored three runs when the Pride went 2-2. He has been in the lead-off spot in the batting order.
On Saturday, Gardner was 3-for-5 with two runs scored in a 7-5 victory at Berry (Ga.) College.
Frazier had three strong outings for the Patriots, who went 2-1 in those games.
Frazier’s impactful week started with 19 points in the 50-34 victory against visiting East Davidson.
By scoring 17 points, the senior guard had more than half of the Patriots’ points in a 38-32 road loss to Southern Guilford.
Frazier capped the week with 19 points in a 49-43 triumph against Asheboro.
Through four games this season, Frazier had a scoring average of 17.3 points per game. She also shared the team rebounding lead with Asia Steverson with 7.3 per outing.
Cheek, a senior, scored four postseason touchdowns in two games for the Patriots.
Providence Grove’s season ended with an 8-4 record with Thursday night’s loss at Reidsville, where Cheek scored a touchdown.
Cheek scored three touchdowns in the previous week when Providence Grove won a football game in the state playoffs for the first time by winning at McMichael.
Cheek led the Patriots with 38.5 receiving yards per game to go with a team-leading four touchdown catches. He scored 13 touchdowns this season, behind only his twin brother Zane Cheek, who had 20.
Wright secured Player of the Year honors in the Piedmont Athletic Conference.
She was the season-long champion in the conference.
In last week’s final PAC match, Providence Grove emerged as the team champion with a 35-shot edge on runner-up Eastern Randolph at Siler City Country Club. Trinity was the third-place team, followed by Randleman and Wheatmore.
Wright will be among the entrants in next week’s Class 1-A/2-A Central Regional at Stonebridge Golf Club in Monroe.
Amy Kidd, a teacher at Providence Gove, took part in last month’s National Agriscience Teacher Ambassador Academy in Tulsa, Okla. (Courtesy photo)
Providence Grove’s Kidd participates in agricultural education program
CLIMAX — Amy Kidd says the most important part of her role as an agricultural teacher at Providence Grove is tending to the welfare of students’ education and development.
After taking part in a national program this summer, Kidd’s influence will extend to assisting teachers as well.
“I’m excited about sharing it with other teachers,” Kidd said.
She was one of 23 teachers from across the country selected to participate in last month’s National Agriscience Teacher Ambassador Academy in Tulsa, Okla. She was the only representative from North Carolina.
“This is something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” Kidd said.
She applied for a spot in the academy, which is organized by the National Association of Agricultural Educators, in 2020, but that event was nixed before the selection stage because of the pandemic.
The weeklong academy was what Kidd described as inquiry-based and hands-on.
“We learned how to turn every lesson pretty much to be student-centered instead of teacher-led,” she said.
Amy Kidd of Providence Grove took part in a national academy this summer in Tulsa. Okla. (Courtesy photo)
Based on the academy, Kidd will make a presentation at the national Future Farmers of America convention in October in Indianapolis. In late November/early December, she goes to Las Vegas for a presentation at the NAAE convention.
At Providence Grove, Kidd works alongside agriculture teacher Morgan Johnson, who’s an alum of the school. Kidd said her summer experience should be a boost to how students are taught here as well.
A native of New York’s Long Island, Kidd received a degree in animal science at North Carolina State. She began her teaching career with two years at Franklinton before beginning a nine-year stretch in 1999 at Eastern Randolph. When Providence Grove opened in 2008, she became a part of the first faculty at the new school.
“It has been an amazing career,” she said. “I can’t tell you how blessed I am.”
Kidd, who lives in Franklinville, holds a 12-month position at Providence Grove, where she started the FFA chapter.
“It just took off,” she said of the interest.
She said she’s particularly proud that 15 of her former students have gone on to teach agriculture.
“My students come first,” Kidd said. “This is why I teach. I’m always trying to find ways to keep them engaged. The kids make it amazing. I’m very, very grateful.”
This fall, she’ll take a group of Providence Grove students to the FFA convention. Eight students will be involved in two separate competitions.
Caudle excelled as a guard on the Piedmont Athletic Conference’s regular-season champion boys’ basketball team. That helped lead to a decision to play collegiately at Division III Brevard College.
He averaged 15.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 3.3 steals for the Patriots. Caudle was the PAC Player of the Year.
Caudle placed fifth in the PAC Tournament for golf. That landed him an all-conference spot in that sport as well.
Luke Thomas fires a pitch from the mound this spring. He’s planning to play college baseball. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)
CLIMAX – Whatever the sport at Providence Grove, Luke Thomas had the ball in his hands.
Those were good hands for the Patriots.
“I like being in control of the game. I don’t like leaning on other players,” Thomas said. “I like being the make-or-break type of guy.”
Thomas helped make Providence Grove relevant on just about every level during a high school career that turned out unmatched.
“A fixture not only in the football program but a fixture in the whole athletic program,” said Calvin Brown, the athletics director and football coach. “Pretty much everything that our athletic department has done for four years, on the male side, has revolved around Luke Thomas.”
The recognition extended beyond the Patriots. He’s the Male Athlete of the Year for the Piedmont Athletic Conference.
His impact came in various forms – from the quarterback who was the PAC’s Offensive Player of the Year in football, a starting guard on the school’s PAC regular-season champion basketball team, and the lead-off batter and starting pitcher for the baseball team.
Aside from statistics and accolades, it was clear Thomas was making a difference. You don’t have to investigate much to find the guy with the golden locks flowing out of the helmet or baseball cap.
“I haven’t cut it,” he said of the flow. “I’ve always liked it. When I first did it, nobody really had it. My grandma could find me on the field.”
Luke Thomas goes between Eastern Randolph defenders during a basketball game last winter. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)
Thomas, 18, is heading to UNC Greensboro as a pitcher after this summer’s American Legion baseball season with Eastern Randolph Post 81.
To excel as a three-sport athlete was something that gave Thomas a sense of satisfaction, not to mention the team success that evolved.
The breakdown for Thomas goes like this: “The funnest sport to play is football because there’s nothing like it. … I had to work the hardest at basketball. My overall favorite is baseball.”
Even as the individual accolades piled up, Thomas seemed prone to brag on teammates.
“I’m confident, but I’m not cocky,” Thomas said. “You have to have a little swagger. I get a lot of hate sometimes when I go places. But that’s fine. That comes with doing a lot of things and trying to be good in sports. You know that coming in. That’s what we ask for.”
Check a postgame handshake line, and it’s often clear that Thomas receives doses of respect from the opponents.
It’s no surprise that he’s well-known around Randolph County. He has been doing this for quite some time.
Better be ready
In the third game of the 2018 football season, Providence Grove quarterback Andrew Poteat went out with a torn knee ligament. There weren’t many options for Brown.
“From that point, Luke was the guy,” he said. “We knew Luke was going to be good, and we also knew he was a freshman.”
Luke Thomas had a record-setting career as Providence Grove’s quarterback. He was the PAC’s top offensive player as a senior. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)
There was no junior varsity team, so Thomas had been the varsity backup. Thomas said he wasn’t sure he was ready, and yet the circumstances dictated that he would be thrust into a key role.
“I got thrown into the fire, and it ended up working out for me,” he said.
That began a stretch when Thomas set every school passing record. By last fall, when he threw for 22 touchdowns, it took his career total to 55. He passed for more than 6,000 yards, even with the abbreviated 2021 spring season (replacing the nixed 2020 season).
“Each year, we put more and more on his shoulders, but he could handle that,” Brown said.
The Patriots have had eight-win records the past two full seasons. There was even a 2021 home game in the state playoffs.
“It’s unheard of,” Thomas said. “Providence Grove could barely get into a playoff game. We weren’t happy with the result. I had higher expectations for myself and my team. I’m glad I ended on that field.”
Yet so often, Thomas left that venue only to turn up at another the next day to play another sport.
Brown said he knew Thomas’ pursuit of baseball was important and marveled at how the morning after a football game that he would be on the way to play baseball.
“That says a lot about him to turn around the next day and go pitch because college coaches wanted to see him,” Brown said. “He was always up for those challenges. He always had that drive and competitiveness.”
For Thomas, it was a sense of pride in being a three-sport athlete and a difference-maker.
“Showing you can do all three and still get where you want to be,” Thomas said. “About every weekend (in the fall), I was playing baseball. I’d try to recover a little bit. That’s what I had to do because of my situation.
“That is not easy to do. It’s very hard on your body and mentally. You don’t always want to play Friday night and get up Saturday morning and go play baseball.”
So after dodging defenders and flinging the football around the field, those 7 a.m. wake-up moments and perhaps a two-hour drive were a grind.
“You’re not the most fresh that next day,” he said. “I can’t really complain about it.”
On days he didn’t pitch, he usually was slotted for another position in the field.
In basketball, Thomas was regarded as the Patriots’ best defender, which coach Wes Luther said was only a slim part of what made him so critical for the Patriots.
“My thing is defense. If I can bring that, they’re going to take care of the rest,” Thomas said of his teammates. “I can have a good night every once and a while. That’s not my job with this team. My job is to defend and take care of the ball.”
Yet he turned in a 24-point performance against Randleman in an overtime victory in the PAC Tournament.
He missed a few midseason basketball games because of a meniscus ailment and later wore a brace on his right knee. And even with hair tied up to keep it out of his eyes, it wasn’t difficult to identify one of the best athletes on the court.
Proud Patriots
Much of the influence for what seems like this nonstop success came from his father, Doug Thomas. A conversation about his achievements is bound to involve the father-son connection.
“I started being successful because I started working a lot harder, getting in the weight room,” Luke Thomas said. “Dad pushed me, just having support. Somebody to humble you and somebody to give you support when you need to be pulled up.”
The elder Thomas has been an assistant coach for the Providence Grove baseball team. Early on, he planted the idea that Providence Grove would be an ideal setting for notable accomplishments if coupled with the right work ethic.
There was no reason to look elsewhere, even if rosters at other schools often seemed to have changing personnel.
“I wanted to show people you could win doing it this way,” Luke Thomas said. “You could do it with your buddies and the kids you went to elementary school with. I like the way I did it. I showed people you could stay at your own school and be successful. I think that’s a big thing in high school. I like the underdog aspect of it.”
At times, Providence Grove might seem like an out-of-the-way rural school almost devoid of fanfare. That’s something that Thomas used as motivation.
“We get disrespected,” he said. “When you do it the right way, you’re not going to have the greatest seasons. When you have Randleman, Eastern (Randolph), Asheboro, Southwest (Randolph), they always overshine us, especially in publicity. Adding this (basketball title), finally gets us some.
“We like it here. We feed off that. That’s why I like being here.”
For the past few weeks, he has been one of the leading players for Post 81. It’s his first season with the team, though it didn’t take long for coach Nate Cockman to be thankful for that development.
“Getting Luke was huge,” Cockman said, listing many intangibles that Thomas’ presence provides and noting the boost for Post 81 in attracting such a well-regarded athlete.
Of course, the foundation for this came at Providence Grove.
By the time Thomas was a junior, his roles had been more defined in terms of leadership.
“I don’t have any regrets. I’m at peace,” he said. “The best part is probably the friends I made throughout playing these sports. You learn as you’re doing it, especially when you’re older. It got easier because people there you get to know and they care about you.”
There will be a shifting of gears when he arrives at UNCG. But that doesn’t mean he’ll be slowing down after this juggling act at Providence Grove.
“I’m glad I played three because it could only help me,” he said. “It will be nice to focus on one sport now.”
McClain completed the season with a team-leading .597 batting average for the Patriots, who were undefeated into the fourth round of the Class 2-A state playoffs.
She also was tops on the team with 11 home runs, 41 runs batted in and 34 runs scored for the team that ended up with a 24-1 record for the Piedmont Athletic Conference champions. She also had eight doubles and three triples to go with 14 stolen bases.
McClain, a senior infielder, was a four-year member of the Providence Grove team. She’s regarded as one of the program’s top players of all-time.
McClain is a Campbell signee. Campbell posted a 37-19 record in 2022 and played in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.
She also spent some time during high school on the basketball team.
Former Providence Grove athlete Anna Thomas was named the top female senior athlete at Emory & Henry College.
Thomas, a softball player, is the 2021-22 recipient of the Hall Memorial Award, which honors an athlete based on skill, leadership and character.
Thomas is considered one of the top outfielders in the Emory & Henry program history. She was part of 87 victories, two NCAA Tournaments on the Division III level and a No. 9 national ranking. During this past spring, she filled in as a pitcher as well.
Thomas was the 2019 Rookie of the Year in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. In 2021, she was picked for the ODAC all-tournament team and NCAA regional all-tournament team.
Thomas batted .299 as a senior when the team was in transition from NCAA Division III to Division II and posted a 26-17 record.
The Hall Award is named in memory of George A. Hall, the father of retired coach Eleanor Hall Hutton, who started some of the first women’s sports on campus.
