Eagles defeat Rebels to claim conference championship

MOUNT OLIVE — After winning the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Carolina 1A Conference title in 2022 and then sharing it with Rosewood in 2023, North Duplin came up just short in their quest for a third title in a row this season as they were defeated 6-2 by the Eagles on April 23.

The meeting was the second time the two teams had met in 2024. Last season, when the two teams faced for the second time, it was North Duplin who was in driver’s seat with just one loss in conference. With a win they could clinch the conference; even with a loss, they could still potentially claim a share of the conference title which is exactly what happened.

This year their roles were reversed though as it was Rosewood who was in the driver’s seat and North Duplin who was coming in from behind in the conference standings.

With a chance to clinch the conference title outright, the Rosewood offense came out looking to put the pressure on the Rebels early. After Rosewood senior Cam Medlin opened up the inning with a strikeout, Eagles batters Robbie Boren and Anderson Clucas earned back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second base with just one out. North Duplin pitcher Garris Warren quickly took control of the inning though, and he earned a strikeout and forced a flyout to end the top of the first inning.

In the bottom of the inning with the Eagles now on defense, they seemed to lack the same composure that the Rebels had to close the top of the first inning, and the first two at-bats of the inning for North Duplin resulted in back-to-back dropped third strikes by the Eagles catcher Braxton Waters. Waters was able to recover the first dropped strike for an out but allowed the batter to reach first safely on the second. Rosewood pitcher Ed Gardner then walked the next two batters to load the bases with just one out.

The mistakes continued for Rosewood as during the next at-bat, North Duplin second baseman committed an error on a Garris Warren groundball to allow Hunt Pate to score, and then with the bases loaded, Gardner walked another batter to give the Rebels a 2-0 lead. With just one out and the bases loaded, the Eagles prevented any more damage from being done though as Holden Williams was tagged out trying to steal home and Wesley Holmes flew out to end the inning.

After the difficult start for Gardner in the first inning, he found his rhythm on the mound as he and Warren continued to pitch at the same high level with both pitchers holding the other team scoreless in the second, third, and fourth innings of the game.

In the top of the fifth inning though, after four excellent innings on the mound, Warren began to show some signs of fatigue and gave up a walk from, a single, and then another single to allow the first run of the game for the Eagles. Concerned that things may spiral out of control, the Rebels coaching staff decided to make a change on the mound, and they brought in Williams to Warren on the mound. The change had a positive effect at first as Warren struck out the first batter he faced to earn the first out of the inning. During the next at-bat though he made a crucial error when Rosewood Jose Vegabatter laid down a bunt, and trying to get the out at first, he overthrew the first baseman allowing Rosewood to score two runs and take a 3-2 lead. Williams then gave up an RBI single to the next batter he faced to put North Duplin behind 4-2.

Down by two runs, North Duplin continued to fight. In the bottom of the sixth inning, thanks to two walks, the Rebels had runners on first and second with just one out. The inning came to a quick stop though when Rosewood third baseman Ed Gardner made an amazing play in which he fielded a hard groundball by Noah Quintanilla and stepped on third before throwing it to first to get the inning-ending double play.

Rosewood then went on to put the game away for good as they scored two more runs in the top of the seventh inning and shut out North Duplin in the bottom of the inning to win by a final score of 6-2 and also win the conference championship.

North Duplin’s next scheduled match against Hobbton on April 25 was cancelled which means that the Rebels finished the season with an overall record of 11-7 and a conference record of 7-2 with both losses coming to the Eagles.

Rosewood played their final game of the regular season on April 25 against Hobbton where they defeated the Tigers 14-0 to finish with an overall record of 15-5 and a conference record of 10-0.