No. 6 South Lenoir Blanks No. 22 Southeast Alamance, Advances to Third Round
DEEP RUN — South Lenoir continues to rewrite its history books. On Friday night, the No. 6 seed Blue Devils notched their 19th win of the season—the program’s highest total since 2011—with a 6-0 shutout over No. 22 Southeast Alamance in the second round of the NCHSAA 2A State Baseball Playoffs.
The Blue Devils (19-3) will now travel to take on perennial power and No. 3 seed Whiteville (18-4) in the third round. It’s a familiar playoff foe—South Lenoir fell to Whiteville in the second round of the 2022 playoffs and is 2-3 all-time against the Wolfpack since 2008. The last time South Lenoir defeated Whiteville came in the third round of the 2011 playoffs, a decisive 11-2 victory.
On Friday, South Lenoir took control early and never looked back. Jake Howard opened the scoring in the first with an RBI single, and the Blue Devils added insurance runs in the second, third, and sixth innings to methodically put the game away.
Howard was dominant at the plate, finishing 2-for-3 with a solo home run, two RBIs, and two runs scored. Gage Howard went 2-for-2 with an RBI and two walks, while Luke Potter and Braden Barnett each added an RBI. Reed Davis doubled and scored once, and Matthew Rhodes added a hit and tossed six shutout innings to earn the win on the mound.
Rhodes allowed just two hits over six innings, striking out seven and walking none on 57 pitches. Barnett closed out the seventh with a scoreless inning of relief. The duo combined to face just 22 batters while holding Southeast Alamance to three total hits.
South Lenoir showed patience at the plate, drawing six walks and executing timely situational hitting. The Blue Devils also took advantage of two defensive errors from Southeast Alamance and got run production from the top to the bottom of the lineup.
The win sets up a marquee showdown with Whiteville, who defeated No. 14 Roanoke Rapids in their second-round matchup. The Blue Devils reached the second round last year and the third round in 2023. A win Tuesday would give the program its deepest playoff run in over a decade.
Postgame interview:
