A 2-1 win over East Rutherford booked East Surry’s ticket to the fourth round of the state playoffs for the fourth-consecutive postseason.
Junior Brett Clayton had two of East Surry’s seven hits and both of the team’s RBIs. Fellow junior Folger Boaz threw a complete game on the mound, striking out 12 batters and allowing just two hits.
“Words can’t do justice to how much I love this group of guys and how blessed I am to be their coach,” Cardinal coach Chad Freeman said following Tuesday’s win. “Top to bottom they play hard, play for each other, have fun doing it, but most importantly they represent our program and community well.”
East Surry’s first postseason since being promoted to the 2A division ran directly through the Mountain Foothills Seven Conference (MFSC). The Cardinals (24-1) defeated the MFSC’s No. 6 seed Hendersonville 8-2 in the opening round, bested MFSC Co-Champion R-S Central 3-2 in the round of 32, then topped the conference’s other Co-Champion, East Rutherford, 2-1 on Tuesday.
Additionally, East Surry defeated the team that would finish fourth in the MFSC standings, Polk County, 8-6 back on March 5.
The Cardinals recorded seven hits against the visiting Cavaliers (21-6). Avery Strange threw a complete game for East Rutherford, striking out seven batters and walking two in six innings.
East Surry only had two hits heading into the bottom of the third inning, then opened things up when Clayton – called Hercules by his teammates – crushed a solo home run that hit the top of the scoreboard at Barry Hall Field. The homer was Clayton’s first of the season.
“Brett is just a wonderful teammate, ” Freeman said. “All the boys love him; he is selfless, he works hard and you can’t ask for a better kid than Brett Clayton. He plays a tremendous defensive center field, and his hitting has gotten better and better and better. He’s had several doubles and triples this year. He’s strong as an ox; we’ve just been waiting for him to connect on one this year and, dang, he did tonight.”
Clayton also came up clutch in the field with a pair of big catches in center field, one in the top of the fourth and then another in the top of the fifth.
“He doesn’t move like you’d think a big boy would,” Freeman said. “He’s got pretty good speed.”
East Rutherford scored its only run off one of the team’s two hits. Boaz threw his seventh strikeout to begin the fourth inning, but followed with his only base on balls. The Cavaliers’ Marshall McGowan advanced to second on a wild pitch, then scored on a hit by teammate Isaac Lee.
Following the Cavs’ run in the fourth, East Rutherford had one player get on base for the remainder of the game – and didn’t get a ton of chances. Boaz finished with 12 strikeouts, including three innings of multiple strikeouts and two innings with three strikeouts in each.
“You can’t ask for a better performance than that,” Freeman said. “Folger was lights out on the mound. He gave us every opportunity to hold them, and the guys did what they needed to scratch across a couple runs and pull out the win. They also played great defense across the board.
“The ball that got through, which allowed them to score their run, had top spin and it hit the lip. It just squirted past Trey (Armstrong) because of the top spin. There was absolutely nothing he could’ve done about that.”
East Surry regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Anthony Ayers was walked to start the inning, then Caden Lasley laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Ayers to second. Matthew Keener hit a blooper to right field to put Ayers on third, and Clayton followed with his own hit to right to bring the run in.
Following the run, players in the dugout told Lasley, “That assist goes to you, Chuck. Great work.”
While East Rutherford failed to get past first base in the final three innings, East Surry put multiple runners on in the sixth in a situation almost identical to the fourth inning. Ayers led with a single to right and was moved to second on a bunt from Lasley. Keener singled, but Ayers stayed on second as the hit went to the Cavaliers’ shortstop.
Both players were left on after Strange threw his sixth and seventh strikeouts.
East Surry held East Rutherford to just three batters in the top of the seventh: McGowan grounded out to Tristen Mason at second, Lee struck out after facing a full count then Caleb Crain grounded out. The game ended when Armstrong fielded Crain’s grounder and made the throw to Luke Brown at first base.
“We’re excited to be moving on to the fourth round,” Freeman said. “2018 and 2019 we were one game away from the Western Finals, then last year the fourth round was the Western Finals because of COVID, and we were able to advance and make the state finals.
“Now, we get to go against the juggernaut that is Randleman.”
East Surry travels to Randleman (28-1), the No. 1 seed in the 2A West and defending 2A State Champion, on May 20. This is East Surry’s first true road game in the playoffs since 2016. The 2021 State Championship was held at a neutral site.
Only two teams in North Carolina – among all public school classifications – have made it to at least the fourth round of the state playoffs in each of the past four postseasons: East Surry and Randleman.
Scoring
East Rutherford – 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0 = 1
East Surry – 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0 = 2
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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