Top-ranked Randleman flexes muscles in rout of Jordan-Matthews

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SILER CITY — Hospitality is always a nice gesture to extend to a guest, but no question Jordan-Matthews overdid its generosity shown to visiting Randleman Tuesday night in a clash of PAC 7 2A Conference rivals on Jimmy Warfford Field.

Aided by 14 walks, five wild pitches, four errors and two hit batters, the unbeaten Tigers frolicked to an embarrassingly easy 20-4 victory in a contest halted after five innings.

Ranked number one in the current state 2A baseball poll and seventh amongst all classifications (1A-4A), Randleman improved to 3-0 in the league standings and 7-0 overall with its fourth straight triumph over J-M, while the Jets fell to 3-2 in the conference and 4-4 for the year.

Tigers’ starter Trey Cooper, a junior southpaw who has committed to N.C. State, went three innings on the mound to pick up the win, allowing no runs and one hit while walking one and fanning nine.

Randleman reliever Dawson Edwards threw the final two frames and was tagged for six hits and four runs (two earned).

Samuel Murchison, the first of five Jordan-Matthews hurlers, took the loss after giving up three hits and nine runs (eight earned) in addition to issuing five free passes and striking out four over two and one-third innings.

J-M relievers Seth Moore, Luke Martinelli, Luke Hinshaw and Tucker Moore combined to toss the last two and two-third innings, collectively surrendering four hits, 11 runs (eight earned) and nine walks besides whiffing four.

“By getting contributions from up and down our lineup we managed to seize an early lead and put pressure on J-M to respond,” explained Tigers’ coach Jake Smith. “Anytime you get free runners on base you need to take advantage of it, and over a dozen of our runs resulted from walks and errors.”

“I can’t say enough about Trey Cooper’s effort,” added Smith. “Here’s a guy who throws strikes and competes hard every night he’s on the mound.”

Jets’ coach John Will Headen remarked sometimes you lay an egg, and stated his squad laid a big one that night.

“We can’t make excuses for our performance this evening,” said Headen. “You need to display some heart and desire when you’re playing the top-ranked team in your class, and that was lacking on our part for the first four innings. I thought we finally showed some passion at the end of the game, and that’s what it takes if you expect to compete.”

He added, “We’ve played like Jekyll and Hyde all year, but with the talent on hand I’m confident we can still turn our season around.”

Randleman jumped out to a 1-0 advantage in the top of the first as Ramsey Petty drew a leadoff walk, stole second and came around to score on a pair of wild pitches.

The Tigers increased their lead to 3-0 in the visitors’ second as lead-off batter Dominick Poole was hit by a pitch, stole second, advanced to third on a ground-out and came home on Brooks Brannon’s sacrifice fly to right.

Jake Johnson then bunted his way on base, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored when Owen Strickland grounded a single to left.

Taking advantage of Murchison’s wildness on the hill, Randleman paraded 11 batters to the plate in the top of the third while extending its lead to 9-0.

After Matt Kemp led off the frame by reaching on a throwing error, Murchison walked four consecutive batters to force in a pair of runs before Johnson’s infield single drove in Poole.

A free pass issued to Strickland then brought in another run prior to Petty delivering a two-run double up the alley in left-center.

The Tigers sent 10 men to the plate in the visitors’ fourth and added five runs to stretch their advantage to 14-0.

Following a leadoff walk to Connor Sterling, Poole reached on an infield error and Brannon received a free pass to load the sacks with no outs.

Walks to Johnson and Lukas Baker forced in two runs before Petty reached on a fielder’s choice that scored a run. After Johnson tallied on an infield error, Petty went to second on a walk to Nick Neal and came around to score on a pair of wild pitches.

Randleman proceeded to boost its lead to 20-0 in the top of the fifth as Poole was hit by a pitch leading off the inning and came around to score on three straight walks.

Before the frame was over Petty blooped a run-scoring base hit to center, Kemp doubled to center to drive in a pair of runs and Sterling brought home two runs with a single to left.

Jordan-Matthews managed to avoid a shutout its final turn at-bat as Kevin Cano lined an opposite-field base hit to right leading off the frame and moved to second on Aaron Black’s infield single.

Cano advanced to third on a one-out wild pitch and scored on Christopher Morgan’s base hit to center that sent Black to second.

After Black was thrown out at the plate attempting to score when Thomas Smith reached on an error, Murchison doubled to the fence in left to plate Morgan and advance Smith to third, and after Smith came home on a wild pitch that moved Murchison to third, the latter came in to score on an infield throwing error.