Jackets advance to SAC baseball final

May 2—Last week, Richmond County was proclaiming itself the Sandhills runner-up even though it had to win its final regular-season game in order to not have to share the honor.

The Raiders did so a day later and finished one game up on Lee County for second in the SAC, but the Yellow Jackets went down to Rockingham Tuesday night for a conference semifinal game and turned the tables on them.

Walker McDuffie and Gavin Swann teamed up on a four-hit shutout and struck out 11 Raiders between them as Lee advanced to the SAC tournament championship game with a 3-0 victory.

The Jackets (17-9) will face Pinecrest (21-3) tonight at 7 p.m. for the tournament title. The game is a rematch of the 2022 final and, as it did then, pits the conference's top 3A and 4A teams in the championship. The Patriots made it to the final by beating Southern Lee in Tuesday's other semifinal.

Lee County had the Raiders in a 2-0 hole after the top of the first inning and led the entire way. The Jackets added an insurance run in the seventh.

They got their first run, and the only one they would need, thanks to some sloppy fielding by Richmond (14-9) in the first inning. After BJ Brown legged out a one-out infield single, Raider pitcher James Eason threw away a pickoff throw to first base and Brown motored all the way to third base. He scored on a groundout by McDuffie. Lee then added a second run after Stanfield reached on an error and then scored on a Blake Carlyle double.

McDuffie started the game for Lee, and immediately hit cruise control with the 2-0 lead. The Raiders went down 1-2-3 in the first, got two hits in the second but McDuffie struck out the side, and then he struck out the side 1-2-3 in the third. He departed after a fourth inning where he walked one man but whiffed two more.

Swann was available to pitch again because he had thrown just 25 pitches in the win over Union Pines the day before; any pitcher who throws fewer than 30 can work again the next day. He blew through the Raiders 1-2-3 in the fifth, allowed a single and a walk with two out in the sixth but then escaped with a strikeout, and then allowed two baserunners with one down in the seventh. Head coach Dalton Hardee stuck with him, and Swann ended the game with a flyout and a groundout.

The last pitch was his 45th of the game and he is available if needed tonight.

Brown was also instrumental in the Jackets' seventh-inning run. He walked on a full count with one out, stole second base and moved to third on another bad pickoff throw, and then scored on McDuffie's sacrifice fly.

Eason, a college prospect who also plays men's soccer and bowling for the Raiders, was outstanding in his own right, going the distance and allowing no earned runs. If he had not struggled in the field, the Jackets might not have scored on him.

Both teams will await their state playoff assignments this weekend. But the Jackets have one more SAC contest to play.

Pinecrest 9, Southern 3Lee fans were hoping for a Cavalier upset and an all-Lee final, which would have been played here at Norman Oldham Stadium. But the regular-season SAC champion Patriots broke a close game open with five runs in the bottom of the sixth.

The Cavaliers (10-15) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Cooper Harrington singled and later scored on a groundout by Caleb Waters. However, the Patriots responded with three in their half of the opening inning.

Southern made it 3-2 in the second after Bryan McCollum drove in TJ McAuley, who led off the inning with a double. The home team made it 4-2 in the third, but the Cavaliers got that one back too. Spencer Stephens drove in pinch-runner Josh Caballero with a sacrifice fly after Marcus Blanks led off with a single. However, the Cavalier missed a chance here after loading the bases with one out. The next two batters made outs.

Southern unraveled in the bottom of the sixth, when the Patriots scored five times, including a home run.

Dylan McBurnett started the game and pitched the first four innings. Caiden Cox and McCollum worked one each.

The loss did not affect Southern's NCHSAA RPI standing, and they remain 30th. If this holds, they will be in the state playoffs next week.