Coach Rob Shore, here during the Class 1-A state finals, directed Uwharrie Charter Academy to a state championship in his first season as head coach. (P.J. Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)
HOLLY SPRINGS – Uwharrie Charter Academy’s baseball team looked the part of state champion.
The Eagles kept their crisp play in place all the way through the Class 1-A state finals.
UCA won the title for the second time in four seasons by sweeping North Moore in the best-of-3 series at Ting Stadium.
Saturday’s clincher came in the form of an 8-1 victory with pitcher Brett Smith firing a five-hitter. He struck out two and walked two.
Both teams ended up with 22-10 records, but UCA took home the desired hardware.
North Moore scored first on Bradley Mauldin’s second-inning double. Then UCA went to work, scoring four times in the third inning. The Eagles went ahead on Ben Medinger’s two-out, two-run single.
Carter Brown, Jake Hunter and Landen Zephir also had singles and Walker Wilkins rapped a run-scoring double.
UCA added runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Caleb Stickle’s two-run single came in the fifth.
Brown went 3-for-4 and was selected as the Most Valuable Player of the series, while Wilkins finished with two hits.
The championship came under the direction of first-year coach Rob Shore, who moved into that position after one season as an assistant coach with the Eagles.
UCA also won the 2019 championship, then the 2020 season was cancelled statewide in early March because of the pandemic so there was no champion that year.
