ZEBULON – Mackenzie Gore was the named the Most Valuable Player after Whiteville downed South Stanly 6-1 n the third and decisive game of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state 1-A baseball championship series at Five County Stadium.
Gore came on to preserve the win after five strong innings on the mound by Brooks Baldwin and also had a hit and an RBI in the decisive game.
He had fired a one-hit shutout and also drove in two runs to lead Whiteville to a 7-0 win in Friday night’s opening game. But South Stanly evened it with a 6-2 victory earlier on Saturday, as Luke Burris had three hits for the winners.
The Wolfpack never surrendered the lead in the final game after the second inning, scoring three runs on a sacrifice fly by Turner Brown and two singles.
Whiteville tacked on two more runs in the sixth. Brown singled, scoring Taylor Smith, and that was followed up by Hunter Cartrette’s single, bringing home Byron Leggett.
Connor Grainger led the winners with three hits in four trips, while Brown had two hits and two RBI and Cartrette hit safety twice.
Vance Deese had a run-scoring double for South Stanly to give the Rowdy Rebel Bulls an early 1-0 lead.
The Wolfpack finished the year 28-5 while South Stanly was 22-8.
Both teams have great baseball traditions. Whiteville won its second straight NCHSAA 1-A state championship and has earned six previous crowns. South Stanly wass making its fifth trip to the championship series in the last seven years and won state titles in 2012 and ’13.
NORTH CAROLINA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION
STATE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Five County Stadium, Zebulon
Class 1-A: Game Three
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
South Stanly 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 4
Whiteville 1 3 0 0 0 2 x 6 10 1
WP — Brooks Baldwin
LP — Jared Swaringen