JH Rose wins state baseball championship
May 31st, 2008 Posted in High School Baseball, High School Playoffs, NCHSAARelated links:
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ROSE BEATS ARDREY KELL TO SWEEP 4-A BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Gray Garner’s single in the bottom of the seventh brought home the winning run to lift Rose to a dramatic 4-3 win over Ardrey Kell in the second and deciding game of the NCHSAA state 4-A baseball championship series at Five County Stadium. The Rose Rampants swept the best of three series to win the state championship, their fifth NCHSAA state baseball championship since 1997.
Senior second baseman Gray Garner led Rose on Saturday with two hits. Garner’s final inning game-winning hit plated Patrick Roy, who had driven in the tying run moments earlier with a triple.
Kell got out to an early 3-1 lead with two in its half of the second, on back-to-back doubles by Logan Ratledge and Brett Nyenhuis, followed by a run-scoring single by Jack Reinheimer. But Rose, like in Friday’s opener, got the clutch hits late to prevail.
Paul McIntosh was the winning pitcher for Rose, scattering seven hits while striking out two and walking one in a complete game effort.
Rose had battled back to win the opener on Friday night by a 5-3 score in extra innings, with Clark Massey’s two-run double in the eighth lifting the Rampants to victory. Massey, who had several clutch defensive plays on Saturday, was named the MVP of the championship series.
Charlotte’s Ardrey Kell Knights wound up 28-6 overall and remarkably lost all six of those games in the final inning. The Greenville Rose Rampants finished with a 28-3 overall record, closing the season with 13 straight wins, including today’s state championship victory.
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