LAUREL HILL, N.C. — The Carver Middle School baseball team hadn’t lost a game, regular season or postseason, since April 26, 2017. The string of 28-straight victories came to an end Wednesday in the Southeastern Middle School Athletic Conference title game.
Ending the streak in a situation with postseason hardware on the line was No. 2 Rockingham Middle School. The Rockets scored three unanswered runs to upset the No. 1 Eagles 3-2, and earn its first SEMSAC banner since 2015.
The Eagles (11-1) were looking to win the conference playoff finale for the third-straight season, but the combination of pitchers Walker Lambeth and Camron Seagraves, along with a big seventh inning by eighth grader Ashton Phifer, helped stunt Carver.
“Even though Carver has won it all the last two years, and were undefeated this season, I feel like the better team won today,” head coach Jamie McDonald said. “They’ve got great pitching but we have great defense, great character and great heart.
“Camron came in to pitch in one of the toughest spots,” he added. “It was one of the greatest performances I’ve coached. Ashton manufactured the game-winning run all by himself, and used some of the savviest baserunning I’ve seen.”
Lambeth started the game for Rockingham (10-1), but lasted two innings before leaving the mound with arm discomfort and moving to second base. He allowed two runs in the bottom of the second, the first coming on an RBI triple to the right field corner. A base knock in the next at-bat made it 2-0.
On the hill for the Eagles was eighth grader Alex Hatcher, who no-hit the Rockets in the teams’ regular season meeting. But the narrative was different Wednesday, as he allowed two runs through six innings pitched.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Rockets got a little offense going. Isaac Hinshaw reached on an error to shortstop, and was joined on base by teammate James Eason, who was plunked with a Hatcher pitcher.
Eighth grader Ethan Clayton stepped in and hit an RBI single to left field, allowing Hinshaw to score. Carver’s left fielder misplayed the ball and it rolled deep enough in the outfield to score Eason to tie the game 2-2.
Seagraves, who tossed five shutout innings earlier in the week against Hamlet Middle School in the semis, went five shutout innings in the win against Carver. He also struck out eight batters.
Entering the final inning tied, Phifer led off with a double to the right-center gap. On the first pitch of the next at-bat, Phifer tore off for third. He slid safely into the bag, but Carver’s catcher airmailed the ball into left field, allowing Phifer to scurry home for the eventual game-winning run.
Seagraves faced just four batters in the bottom of the seventh, catching an infield fly and getting a line out to left for the first two outs. After hitting Hatcher with a pitch, right fielder Emmanuel Gilliam hauled in a can of corn to seal the championship.
In the previous two championships, Carver had beaten Hamlet 8-2 and 6-2 in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
“I want to say a big thank you to our eighth graders, Walker, Ashton, Ethan, Emmanuel and Joseph (Jordan),” McDonald closed. “When they came in as sixth graders, the program was in turmoil. This eighth grade class helped put this program back where it’s always been.”
On the way home, the Rockets’ team bus was escorted back to Rockingham by a Richmond County Sheriff’s Deputy.
