South Stanly wins 1A state baseball championship

ZEBULON -- Senior righthander Ryne Poplin contributed with both his arm and his bat on Saturday to lead South Stanly to a 7-2 victory over Hampstead Topsail and a sweep of the best-of-three North Carolina High School Athletic Association state 1-A baseball championship series at Five County Stadium.

Poplin got the win on the mound to run his record to 9-1 on the year, striking out five, and also had a run-scoring single in the sixth. He entered the championship series batting a whopping .478.

Wes Hatley of South was named Most Valuable Player for the
championship. The senior righthander had a route-going three-hit pitching
performance in the Rowdy Rebel Bulls' 6-2 win in Friday night's opener and
also had a hit in each game.

South Stanly built a 5-0 lead in the first three innings.

A run-scoring single by clean-up hitter Colten Burris, South's RBI leader,
after a walk and a wild pitch put the Rowdy Rebel Bulls up 1-0 in the first.
In the following frame, a two-run triple to right by Jarad Aman moved the
score to 3-0.

In the third, after a couple of Topsail errors, South catcher Matt Lisk delivered a two-RBI single to make it 5-0.

Topsail sliced the lead to 5-2 in the top of the sixth with a single by Keith Gray driving home two, but the Bulls answered with a pair in their half of the frame.

Jake Stone got the loss for Topsail.

The Rowdy Rebel Bulls finished at 25-5 on the year, winning their eighth straight game in the playoffs and capturing their first NCHSAA state baseball crown. Topsail, finishing as state runner-up for a second consecutive year, wound up 21-12 but had a great stretch run after posting a 7-8 record at midseason. It was the Pirates' eighth straight 20-win season.


NORTH CAROLINA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION STATE 1-A BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES‹GAME TWO Five County Stadium, Zebulon

Hampstead Topsail 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 -- 2 5 3
South Stanly 1 2 2 0 0 2 x -- 7 7 3

WP‹Ryne Poplin (9-1). LP‹Jake Stone (4-1).