McCrary Park - Randolph Record

05 Aug

Post 45’s season ends with 11-inning loss in Southeast Regional

Bob SuttonSportsAmerican Legion baseball, Hunter Atkins, McCrary Park, Randolph County Post 45, Ronnie Pugh, Southeast Regional, Tanner Marsh, Tyler Parks

ASHEBORO – It took most of Saturday night before Randolph County Post 45 was dismissed from the Southeast Regional. The host team battled for 11 innings with Florence (S.C.) Post 1 before suffering a 5-4 loss at McCrary Park. “We’ve been playing all night,” Post 45 manager Ronnie Pugh said. “This was a classic. Our guys sucked it up and played.” Florence (29-5) is unbeaten in the double-elimination regional and will play Fuquay-Varina Post 116 (30-6) at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. If Fuquay-Varina wins, another winner-take-all game will follow. Post 45 ended the season with a 25-8 record, going 2-2 in…

04 Aug

Post 45 blasts off, keeps season going in Southeast Regional

Randolph RecordSportsAmerican Legion baseball, Connor Adams, Hunter Atkins, Josh Meadows, McCrary Park, Pierce Leonard, Post 45, Randolph County Post 45, Southeast Regional, Tanner Marsh, Tyler Parks

Hunter Atkins, above, and several of his Randolph County Post 45 teammates had strong offensive games in Friday's Southeast Regional game. (Randolph Record file photo) ASHEBORO – Hunter Atkins drove in three runs and six of his Randolph County Post 45 teammates racked up two runs batted in a 17-1 whipping of Owensboro (Ky.) Post 9 in Friday afternoon’s elimination game of the Southeast Regional at McCrary Park. The American Legion baseball game ended after five innings. Post 45 (25-7) scored in every inning, including seven runs in the top of the fifth. For the second year in a row,…

03 Aug

Lemons pitches gem as Randolph County Post 45 stays alive in Southeast Regional

Randolph RecordSportsAmerican Legion baseball, Austin Lemons, Hunter Atkins, Josh Meadows, McCrary Park, Post 45, Randolph County Post 45, Tanner Marsh

Austin Lemons throws a pitch earlier this season (Randolph Record file photo) ASHEBORO – Austin Lemons made sure Randolph County Post 45’s season has a little more life. Lemons threw a four-hitter as Post 45 defeated Belleview (Fla.) Post 284 by 3-0 in Thursday afternoon’s elimination game of the Southeast Regional for American Legion baseball. Lemons, a former Randleman High School pitcher headed for UNC Greensboro, walked three batters and struck out seven. The game lasted only 79 minutes at McCrary Park. The outcome puts Post 45 (24-7) in another must-win matchup at 12:30 p.m. Friday against the loser of…

01 Aug

Leonard takes baseball path with Post 45; Southeast Regional set to begin in Asheboro

Bob SuttonSportsAmerican Legion baseball, Eastern Randolph athletics, McCrary Park, Pierce Leonard, Randolph County Post 45, Ronnie Pugh, Southeast Regional

Second baseman Pierce Leonard of Randolph County Post 45 makes a play in the field earlier this season. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record) ASHEBORO – Pierce Leonard is a first-year member of the Randolph County Post 45 baseball team. There’s a reason that he pursued American Legion baseball this summer. Having finished his final high school year at Eastern Randolph after transferring from Uwharrie Charter Academy, Leonard chose baseball as a preference in terms of a sport to play in college. “I figured I could go farther with baseball than I could basketball,” Leonard said. He said he’ll play baseball at Guilford…

22 Jul

ZooKeepers deal with curves late in season

Bob SuttonSportsAsheboro Zookeepers, Coastal Plain League, McCrary Park

Asheboro ZooKeepers outfielder Carter French reaches for second base on a slide earlier this season. French plays for North Carolina during the college season. (PJ. Ward-Brown/Randolph Record) ASHEBORO – Highs and lows, comings and goings. That sums up what the Asheboro ZooKeepers have been going through lately. In the past week’s games, they’ve gone 2-2. Saturday night’s 12-1 whipping of the Holly Springs Salamanders at McCrary Park came with numerous highlights, including the first home run for Lleyton Lackey. The game was reduced to seven innings by the mercy rule, with Win Scott firing a four-hitter. Yet it’s generally hard…

10 Jul

ZooKeepers find peaks in rough stretch

Randolph RecordSportsAsheboro Zookeepers, Coastal Plain League, Korey Dunbar, McCrary Park, Tyler McPeak

Ethan Snyder is the only pitcher with both a victory and a save for the Asheboro ZooKeepers. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record) ASHEBORO – The Asheboro ZooKeepers didn’t win a game in the Coastal Plain League’s second half until their fourth game. At least they did so in style. The ZooKeepers defeated first-half West Division champion Forest City 7-6 in Saturday night’s game at McCrary Park. Alex Lodise hit his first home run with the ZooKeepers. Teammates Jay Dillard and Owen Blackledge both had two hits. Jacob Halford was the winning pitcher in relief. Spencer Floyd notched a save by recording six…

30 Jun

ZooKeepers show signs of breaking through

Bob SuttonSportsAsheboro Zookeepers, Coastal Plain League, College baseball, Korey Dunbar, McCrary Park, summer college baseball, Tyler McPeak

Jay Dillard had a three-run double and then scored a run for the Asheboro ZooKeepers against Holly Springs on Thursday night. (Photo courtesy of ZooKeepers) ASHEBORO – The Asheboro ZooKeepers didn’t make a push for the first-half title in the Coastal Plain League’s West Division. But they did develop momentum and created some good vibes by the midway mark of the season. Among the highlights was Thursday night’s 5-4, 10-inning victory against visiting Holly Springs Salamanders at McCrary Park. “We strung a couple of nights like that together,” first-year ZooKeepers coach Korey Dunbar said. “We’re starting to finish games.” The…

26 Jun

Post 45 makes most of home action

Randolph RecordSportsAmerican Legion baseball, Braylen Hayes, Hunter Atkins, McCrary Park, Pierce Leonard, Randolph County Post 45, Tanner Marsh

Randolph County Post 45’s Grat Dalton reaches for the plate but is tagged out by Cleveland County Post 82 catcher Hagan Hoyle. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record) ASHEBORO – Randolph County Post 45 won all three games it completed in its first games this year at McCrary Park in Asheboro. The weekend victories against three different opponents pushed Post 45’s record to 14-1. With stadium renovations incomplete, the Randolph County team played road games or at Randleman High School in the first few weeks of the season. Then games early last week were rained out. The three-day event at McCrary Park…

20 Jun

ZooKeepers finally find some answers

Randolph RecordSportsAsheboro Zookeepers, Coastal Plain League, McCrary Park, UNCG

The Asheboro ZooKeepers have had mixed results from the mound during their games so far this season. (Photo courtesy of ZooKeepers) ASHEBORO – The Asheboro ZooKeepers made notable progress last week. The biggest of those achievements was finally winning a game. The Coastal Plain League baseball team lost its first six games of the season, which already has been disjointed by playing home games at UNC Greensboro while McCrary Park renovations are ongoing. The plan is to have the ZooKeepers playing in Asheboro by the end of this week. At least they’ve experienced success. The ZooKeepers didn’t pick up a…

12 Jun

Returnees help Post 45 hit early groove

Randolph RecordSportsAdam Cole, American Legion baseball, Austin Lemons, Braylen Hayes, Carter Brown, Connor Adams, Ethan Frye, Hunter Atkins, Josh Meadows, McCrary Park, Pierce Leonard, Post 45, Randolph County Post 45, Ronnie Pugh, Tanner Marsh, Tyler Parks

Pierce Leonard takes a swing for Randolph County Post 45. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record) Randolph County Post 45 has been off a strong start to the American Legion baseball season. The team has a good core of returning players who’ve produced across the first couple of weeks of the season. Post 45 had a 7-1 record – capped with a 5-4 victory at Davidson County last week – before a five-day break in the schedule. The team is slated to be back in action this week. The lone loss came by a 3-2 score at Rowan County. Twelve days later, Post…