Southwestern Randolph drops first game in regional baseball playoffs

RANDLEMAN — Ed Lagrama stood there with a wide grin, occasionally looking up to the sky. His Southwestern Randolph varsity baseball team had just reached new heights by recording a 5-4 fourth-round playoff win over Randleman last Friday night to send his team to the NCHSAA East Regional Finals.

He talked about what it took to get there, stressing the togetherness, the fight and the want-to the Cougars have displayed all season long.

And now Southwestern will need all of that after yesterday’s 4-2 loss to Bunn in the first game of the best-of-three regional finals series yesterday, May 19. The second game is tonight at 6 p.m. at SWR. 

“Can’t say enough about these guys,” Lagrama said. “They come each and every day and work hard, just play the game, a simple game. Catch the ball, throw the ball, hit the ball. That’s what they do. They play together.”

The sixth-seeded Cougars broke a 4-4 tie by scoring an unearned run in the fifth inning and hurlers Logan Weidman and Lane Poole made that run stand up as SWR captured its seventh win in the past eight games, taking a 19-7 record into the East Regional Finals against Bunn. 

This is the furthest the Cougars have ever gone in NCHSAA playoff action, eclipsing the fourth-round showings in 2014 and, of course, this season.

“Last year, the team didn’t care about winning,” said Weidman, who threw 5 2/3 innings against the second-seeded Tigers. “This year, everyone is on top of it. Everyone wants to win. We got the pitching to do it and we got the bats. If we keep hitting like we should, I think we can win it. It feels amazing, awesome. I am so stoked right now.”

Weidman was never as stoked as he was in the bottom of the fifth inning. After the Cougars scored the tie-breaking run on an error, a walk, an infield single by Weidman and a sacrifice fly from Poole, a walk and an error put Randleman runners on the corner with no one out in the bottom of the fifth. Weidman recorded three straight strikeouts as those runners never left their bases.

“(That was) how bad I wanted to win the game,” Weidman said. “It’s a crazy feeling when you’re out there and all these people. Crazy atmosphere.”

It’s been a crazy season for the Cougars, an incredibly crazy season.

SWR started 2-2 before ripping off seven wins in their next eight games. They split their next six contests before going on their current run, with the only loss, a 3-2 decision to Northwood, coming in the semifinals of the Four Rivers Conference Tournament. 

A first-round bye after garnering a six seed for the NCHSAA state 4-A playoffs was followed by a thrilling 1-0 walkoff win over No. 11 Nash Central and an 8-2 win over No. 3 Southwest Edgecombe in a game that was tied 2-2 after six innings.

“The big difference this year is they have bought into the Southwest system,” Lagrama said. “We brought in Coach Connor, Coach Hill, Coach Davis and Coach Curry. Each of them are at every practice and we don’t let things slide. A couple of times we had a bad practice and we let them know about it. For the most part, we stay on our guys and they respond. 

“That’s part of baseball and a part of life,” he said of accountability. “That’s what we’re trying to do. Make these guys productive citizens in our community.”

Poole, who knocked in the winning run and earned the save with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, agreed.

“I got to say the coaches,” Poole answered when asked about the differ-ence this year compared to the last few.

“Andrew Connor, Coach Lagrama, Ryan Hill, all of them changed the atmosphere, changed the aspect of baseball for us. The past few years we didn’t take it as serious as we needed to. This year Andrew Connor made sure we were on it and everyone picks each other up.”

Against the Tigers Friday night at a jammed Joe Brookshire Field, RHS took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Ashton Poe singled and eventually scored on a balk.

The Cougars responded with a four-run uprising in the second, loading the bases with two outs on a single by Weidman and two walks. A RBI single by Lucas Connor tied the game and Carson Williams’ line drive scooted past a diving outfielder, allowing all three runners to score.

A three-run bottom of the third tied the game as Jake Riddle and Jackson Hill had hits before John Kirkpatrick singled in the tying run with two outs.

It stayed that way until the fifth when Brady Armfield reached on an error with one away and a walk to Carson Coltrane and an infield single by Weidman loaded the bases. Poole’s long fly ball brought in the winning run.

The Tigers’ Hill recorded his third hit to lead off the seventh, the first hit for RHS since the third inning, but Poole retired the next three batters in order to secure the win.

“I have been doing this for years, it ain’t nothing different,” Poole said about recording the save. “Go out with the same attitude as at the beginning of the season. Same closing, same routine.”

The Tigers, who lost 5-2 to the Cougars in their only meeting during the regular season, saw the season end at 22-5. RHS was able to produce its 17th straight season of winning outright or sharing a regular-season conference championship, tying Central Davidson for first place this season in the Piedmont Athletic Conference. 

It also was the 16th time in the past 17 seasons RHS has advanced to at least the fourth round of the playoffs, an incredibly impressive streak. The only year RHS didn’t go this far was in 2024 when it was eliminated in the third round.

Now the Cougars prepare for their first East Regional championship series against No. 1 Bunn, which advanced with a 5-0 win over Uwharrie Charter Academy, snapping the impressive run of three straight state championships for the Eagles. Bunn won the Quad County 2-A/3-A/4-A Conference this season and will bring a 22-3 record into Game 1 of the Regional finals this week.

“It means the world to me, there’s no better feeling,” SWR’s Weidman said of heading to the East Regional Finals. “It’s fun playing with all your boys and everyone having the same energy. That was a crazy game. That was the best game we had by far. The second we got on the field all the boys said we have to lock in from the start. They are going to come out ready to beat us and we have to have that same energy.”