ROCKINGHAM — The No. 2 Rockingham Middle School baseball team survived a late-game push by No. 3 Hamlet Middle School to advance to the 2019 Southeastern Middle School Athletic Conference title game.
The two rivals met Monday at Rockingham, where the Rockets used a big second inning to advance to their first title game since 2015. The final score was 8-4 Rockingham, which ended the Red Rams’ postseason.
Rockingham’s Camron Seagraves toed the rubber in the playoff bout, going five complete innings to earn the win. He pitched 4.1 perfect innings before giving up a one-out single to Tyler Graham in the top of the fifth.
Seagraves struck out nine batters in the win, including striking out the side in order in the third. He gave up no runs, while Walker Lambeth and Damon Bryant combined to close out the final two innings to preserve the win.
Opposite of Seagraves was Hamlet’s Ethan Locklear, who was coming off a stellar relief outing in Hamlet’s first-round win over Anson Middle School Blue. He didn’t have the same success, as he gave up seven runs on four hits and five walks.
During the regular season meeting, the Rockets run-ruled the Red Rams 13-3 behind a complete-game, one-hit performance by Lambeth.
The Rockets scored seven runs in the third inning, which would prove to be enough to secure the win. Following a pair of walks to lead off the inning, Seagraves helped his cause with a two-RBI double to the left-field corner, scoring Bryant and Isaac Hinshaw to make it 2-0.
Two batters later, Emmanuel Gilliam would slap an RBI single to right field, allowing Seagraves to score. James Eason followed up with an RBI single, scoring Zane Searcy (walk) to give the Rockets a four-run lead.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Ethan Clayton skied a fly ball to the left side of the infield and was called out on the infield fly rule. The ball fell between Hamlet’s third baseman and shortstop, allowing Gilliam to advance on his own and score.
On the same play, Aston Phifer and Eason moved up to third and second base. Lambeth dug in next and slapped a two-RBI single, plating Phifer and Eason, but was thrown out at third trying to advance on the throw home.
Rockingham would add its final run of the game in the bottom of the fourth, using a Clayton one-out walk to score a couple pitches later on a wild pitch.
After Graham got on base in the top of the fifth for Hamlet, Jason Walker popped a ball up to Seagraves for the second out, and the pitcher turned and caught Graham napping at first for the double play.
Lambeth came in to pitch to start the sixth inning, but struggled by hitting four batters. He gave up an RBI single to Jabari Douglas, which was an infield dribbler to short.
That run was the first of four that the Red Rams would score in the inning to make things interesting. A wild pitch, coupled with a 6-4 fielder’s choice by Blake Brown allowed Cain Hunsucker (HBP) and Douglas to score.
Bryant came in and gave up an unearned run when Hamlet scored its final run of the game on an error at third base.
Red Rams head coach Josh Peele replaced Locklear with Douglas at the start of the fourth inning, and the right-handed relief pitcher threw four innings, allowing just the one run in the fourth.
He also recorded three strikeouts, while getting out of jams in the fifth and sixth innings with runners in scoring position.
With the victory, Rockingham (9-1) will travel to No. 1 Carver Middle School for the SEMSAC title. The Eagles defeated No. 5 Ellerbe on Monday to improve to 11-0 on the spring. A date and time for the game have yet to be announced.
The Rockets won the 2015 championship, completing a perfect season, with members who are now seniors on the Richmond Senior High School baseball team.
