Randleman wins back-to-back North Carolina 2A baseball state championships

Tigers complete a sweep of Whiteville to claim their second consecutive NCHSAA 2A baseball state championship

It was not as easy as its no-hit, five inning 10-0 victory on Friday, but once the Randleman baseball team got going in Saturday’s second game, the Tigers slugged their way to a 12-5 victory over Whiteville, completing a two-game sweep of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 2A baseball state championship series, giving Randleman back-to-back state crowns.

In its quest to stay alive in the series and rebound from being no hit the night before, Whiteville jumped on the Tigers for three runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Wolfpack sandwiched RBI doubles by Ty Lawson and Will Fisher around an RBI groundout by Kyler Dowless to get off to an impressive start.

That score held for two innings, but Randleman (33-1) erupted for five runs in the third to take the lead for good.

Brooks Brannon, who was later named the MVP of the championship series, laced a two-run triple to get the Tigers on the board. Brannon would go 3-for-5 in the game with three RBI. Seth Way then doubled in two runs to put Randleman in front and Ryan White capped the rally with an RBI single.

Whiteville (23-5) got one back in the home half of the third, but Randleman countered it with one in the top of the fourth and put the game away with a six-run sixth, keyed by a three-run double off the bat of Gus Shelton. The Tigers finished the game with 19 hits.