Baseball
4A playoffs
No. 3 Hoggard 8 No. 30 Jordan 0
Rob Wilkerson delivered a strong performance on the mound for Hoggard on Tuesday as the Vikings blanked No. 30 Jordan 8-0 in Wilmington.
Brad Pennington had a three-hit night for the Vikings, while Connor Simpson, Sam Schmidt, J.P Graham and Matthew Suggs collected two hits apiece.
No. 3 Hoggard moved to 19-4 overall heading into their second-round matchup at home against No. 14 Heritage.
No. 23 New Hanover 3 No. 10 Millbrook 2
As the 23-seed in the 4A bracket, New Hanover traveled to Raleigh for their first-round match up and handed No. 10 Millbrook a 3-2 defeat on Tuesday.
Caleb Bishop finished off a complete game effort for the Wildcats. He allowed four hits and fanned seven in the victory. Freshman Blake Walston had three hits to pace the New Hanover lineup.
The Wildcats improved to 15-7 on the spring and play the winner of No. 7 West Johnston/No. 26 Panther Creek.
3A playoffs
No. 2 West Brunswick 10 No. 31 Webb 0
Runs were hard to come by over the final week of the regular season for West Brunswick, but that was not the case in the 3A playoff opener on Tuesday as the Trojans blanked Webb High School 10-0 in Shallotte.
West Brunswick moved to 22-2 overall as the No. 2 seed in the 3A bracket. With a 3-0 advantage moving into the bottom of the fourth, the Trojans put together a seven-run rally to secure the result.
Hunter Ashburn and Austin Turner had two hits apiece. Ashburn finished with three RBI’s, while Tristan Lewis drove in a pair of runs. Kevin Powers scattered four hits and struck out five in the shutout.
No. 2 West Brunswick will play at home in the second round against the winner of No. 15 Chapel Hill/No. 18 Eastern Guilford.
4A playoffs
No. 7 Laney 7 No. 26 New Bern 5
Paige Cruse went 4-for-4 at the plate with four runs batted in to pace the Laney offense in a 7-5 win at home against New Bern on Tuesday.
The Bucs, listed at No. 7 in the 4A softball bracket, improved to 16-6 overall and entertain No. 10 West Johnston on Friday, May 13.
No. 14 Hoggard 3 No. 19 Holly Spring 0
Survive and advance is the phrase for all high school sports team competing in the state playoffs and the Hoggard softball team did just that on Tuesday night as the Vikings grabbed a 3-0 victory at home against Holly Spring.
Morgan Mathis tossed a complete game shutout as Hoggard gained an early two-run advantage after Melissa Marks picked up a pair of RBI’s with a double in the bottom of the first to drive in Olivia Hawkins and Aleah Thompson. Thompson also belted a solo home run over the wall in center field to add a big insurance run in the bottom of the third.
No. 14 Hoggard moved to 19-4 overall heading into their second-round match up at No. 3 Garner-Magnet later this week. Garner grabbed a 7-5 victory over Cardinal Gibbons in Raleigh on Tuesday.
3A playoffs
No. 23 West Brunswick 6 No. 10 Swansboro 0
4A playoffs
No. 4 Leesville Road 3 No. 29 New Hanover 2 (OT)
New Hanover went on the road and gave it their all as the 29-seed in this year’s 4A playoff bracket. The Wildcats pushed fourth-seeded Leesville Road to the limit, but the home side grabbed the game winner in extra time to hand New Hanover a 3-2 season ending setback.
Liza McLatchey tallied and picked up an assist for the Wildcats. Sally Sloan scored the second goal for New Hanover as the Wildcats finished the spring 10-10-3 overall.
New Hanover carried a 1-0 advantage until the two minute mark of regulation when Leesville Road found the equalizer off a free kick to force overtime. Leesville Road then went ahead 2-1 in the first 10-minute extra period on a penalty kick before Sloan found the back of the net off an assist from McLatchey to tie it two-all.
Leesville Road notched the game-winner on a service from the corner with about three minutes remaining in the second overtime period.
4A: No. 1 Hoggard 11 No. 3 Millbrook 5 (boys)
No. 1 Hoggard 13 No. 2 Ashley 6 (girls)
Lindsey Yelton and Kendall Goldblum combined for eight goals on Tuesday night to guide Hoggard to its third result against Ashley this spring following a 13-6 victory at Scott Braswell Stadium.
The Vikings are 18-1 overall heading into a matchup at Cardinal Gibbons.
Hoggard stats: Lindsey Yelton 4 goals 1 assist; Kendall Goldblum 4 goals 1 assist; Madison Kosh 1 goal; Hyla Zouzias 1 goal; Emma Hall 1 goal; Alyssa Cooke 1 goal; Morgan Lennon 1 goal.
