Chatham Central, Chatham Charter and Jordan-Matthews make baseball state playoffs

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Update: The first round of the baseball state tournaments took place Tuesday night, after this story was written. Here are the scores:

Chatham Charter 20, Southeast Halifax 0

Chatham Central 5, Perquimans 0

SouthWest Edgecombe 8, Jordan-Matthews 7 (10 innings)

Chatham Charter hosts Chatham Central Friday in the second round of the playoffs. Start time TBD.

Three of the five Chatham County baseball teams made their respective state playoffs after a regular season full of high-caliber play and high drama.

Jordan-Matthews was the only Chatham team to make the 2A state tournament. The Jets earned the No. 10 seed in the east region and hosted No. 23 SouthWest Edgecombe in the first round Tuesday night (game occurred after press time). If victorious, J-M will play in the second round Friday against either Roanoke Rapids or Farmville Central.

The Jets came into the state playoffs with a 13-10 overall record after winning the Mid-Carolina Conference regular season title at 10-3 in league play. Jordan-Matthews lost in the second round of the conference tournament to North Moore.

Last season, the Jets made the 2A tournament despite coming into the playoffs with a 7-16 overall record. J-M fell in the second round of last year’s tournament to Roanoke Rapids, 9-6.

This year’s Seaforth baseball team narrowly missed the 2A state playoffs. The Hawks were ranked No. 34 in the 2A east in the final RPI rankings, and only the top-32 teams in each division made the tournament.

Head coach Landon Jones’ team ended its season at 13-11 overall, a dramatic improvement from the 3-13 campaign it had in 2022. Seaforth made it to the finals of this spring’s Mid-Carolina Conference tournament before falling to North Moore, 7-2.

Leading the way for the Hawks at the plate this season have been sophomore Cade Elmore (.347 average, 26 hits, 12 RBI), junior Dane O’Neill (.338, 24 hits, 21 RBI) and freshman Collin Dorney (.338, 22 hits, 11 RBI). On the mound, freshman Jaedyn Rader pitched the most innings for Seaforth (36.2), totaling a 2.29 ERA and 34 strikeouts against 15 walks.

In the 1A tournament, both Chatham Charter and Chatham Central earned bids. The Knights are the No. 2 team in the 1A east and played Southeast Halifax at home Tuesday, while the Bears were ranked No. 15 and hosted No. 18 Perquimans the same night. If both Chatham teams were victorious in the first round, they will play each other Friday night in the second round.

The Knights have had a wildly successful season, entering the state playoffs with a record of 15-1 overall. Chatham Charter’s only loss of the regular season came to Clover Garden School on April 5.

Head coach Bill Slaughter’s team is hitting a combined .426. Four Knights’ had at least 17 RBI, led by junior Aiden Allred (.479 average, 23 hits, 23 RBI). On the mound, sophomore Zach Cartrette was 6-0 with a 1.30 ERA and 60 strikeouts against just 17 walks. Cartrette is also batting .491 with a team-high 26 hits to go with 17 RBI.

Chatham Central (14-7 overall) finished the regular season third in the Mid-Carolina Conference standings and lost in the first round of the conference tournament to Seaforth. The Bears have now won at least 14 games in four of the past six seasons under head coach Brett Walden.

Central’s top batter this season has been sophomore Matthew Murchison, who is hitting .400 and leads the team in both hits (28) and RBI (33). Murchison’s seven triples are more than any other player in the county this season.

On the mound, junior Anthony Lopossay and junior Wesley Clewis have combined to go 8-4 with a 2.26 ERA and 111 strikeouts against 29 walks in 87.2 total innings.

Northwood was one of the final teams left out of the 3A state tournament. The Chargers were No. 36 in the 3A east in the final RPI rankings after going 7-15 during the regular season.

The Chargers, who will graduate eight seniors this offseason, were led offensively by senior Seth Davis, who hit .311 with 19 hits and eight RBI.

Sports Editor Jeremy Vernon can be reached at jeremy@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @jbo_vernon. 

Baseball, chatham charter, chatham central, jordan-matthews, playoffs, nchsaa