THOMASVILLE — Night and day.
That aptly describes round one and round two of the American Legion Area III playoffs for Eastern Randolph.
All the momentum of the opening round series win over Mooresville quickly vanished for Post 81 against High Point and never reappeared.
Thursday night in game three of the series at Finch Field was the decisive exclamation point for Post 87 with a 5-3 triumph to cap the sweep. High Point had won game one by a 6-1 score before hammering Eastern Randolph 15-0 in game two.
Post 87 took a 2-0 lead early in the contest with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second behind a two-out double to left by Carson Shetley, an RBI-single by Avery Cain, a walk Logan Robson, and an RBI-single from Avery Adams.
Eastern Randolph answered with three runs in the top of the third on one-out singles from Jacob Underwood, Chris Morgan and Connor Murphy, and a two-run single from Zander Smith to center. Murphy scored on an error by the Post 87 centerfielder to give Post 81 a 3-2 lead.
High Point tied the game at 3-all in the bottom of the third on a one-out homer to center by Isaiah Hairston.
Hairston would be right back in the middle of the action in the home half of the fifth with a lead-off double to center before scoring moments later on an Eastern Randolph error to put High Point back in the lead for good at 4-3.
A double by Chet Sikes and an RBI-single by Luke Pritchett in the sixth added an insurance run for Post 87 and capped the 5-3 win, and subsequently the second round series sweep.
Underwood led Eastern Randolph at the plate with a 3-for-3 outing that included a run scored while Smith was 1-for-3 with two RBI, Morgan 1-for-3 with a run, Clay Edmondson 1-for-3, and Murphy 1-for-4 with a run.
High Point saw Hairston go 2-for-3 offensively with two runs, an RBI and a walk while Pritchett was 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Robson 1-for-1 with two walks.
Mason Canoy suffered the loss on the mound despite a strong effort. Canoy went 4.2 innings and allowed seven hits, four runs (three earned), and three walks while striking out two.
Zander Smith worked the final 1.1 innings and yielded two hits, one run, one walk and fanned one.
Picking up the win on the hill for Post 87 was Gavin Sentell who went the distance and allowed seven hits, three runs (two earned) and no walks while striking out three.
Eastern Randolph, the No. 7 seed from the Area III North Division, closes the season at 5-22. High Point, meanwhile, will enter the Area III semi-finals as the No. 4 seed from the North and with a 19-11 mark overall. High Point will take on North top seed Randolph County (23-6) in a best of 5 series that was set to begin Monday.