RMA baseball drops Game One of NCISAA 2A Championship Series

The Rocky Mount Academy baseball team dropped the first game to Wayne Country Day, 8-0, in the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 2A Championship Series Friday night at McCrary Park in Asheboro.

The top seeded Chargers improved to 27-4 overall and will go for the sweep and the state title at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning. Rocky Mount Academy, the No. 3 seed, dropped to 15-5 overall and has to win the first game on Saturday to force the "if necessary" contest.

RMA managed just three hits against WCDS southpaw Sterling Bass, who pitched a complete-game shutout with five strikeouts and one walk.

The Eagles had baserunners in the first inning (Jordan Wright reached on an error and Gehrig Miller walked), but Wright was tagged out in a rundown between first and second and the Chargers turned a double play to end the inning.

WCDS failed to score in the first after stranding two runners but took control with a four-run second frame. Bass smashed a two-run home run to right field, while Cameron Aycock added a run-scoring triple and later scored on a wild pitch.

RMA put runners on base in the second (Seth Tickel double) and third (Donaven Wright infield single) but couldn't get the big hit to keep the innings going.

The Chargers tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on a two-run double by Davis Albert and the other run on a groundout.

RMA got a double from Pulley in the fifth inning, but he was left stranded. WCDS added its final run on doubles from Bass and Cameron Dearing in the bottom of the fifth.