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.
