Sniffen Leads New Hanover Past Terry Sanford, into Regional Final

When the N.C. High School Athletic Association baseball playoff brackets came out, there was plenty of excitement about a potential 3A fourth round matchup between No. 1 New Hanover and No. 4 Terry Sanford.

Both teams cruised through the first three rounds to make it a reality Friday night at Buck Hardee Field, but it wasn't the showdown everyone anticipated.

The defending state champion Wildcats got a dominant start from senior Alex Sniffen and capitalized on six Bulldogs errors to claim an 8-1 victory that put them in the East Regional championship series for the third year in a row.

"Everything in the bullpen was on," said Sniffen, who struck out eight in the complete game. "I knew as soon as I got the the ballpark and my arm was feeling good that I was going to be alright."

A season ago, the teams met in the regional series with New Hanover (24-1) winning 2-1 in a decisive third game. Terry Sanford (24-3) had been waiting for another shot at the Wildcats.

New Hanover grabbed a 2-0 lead with two outs in the second inning. A pair of errors on a fielder's choice from Alec Cortner allowed Riley Estes to score from first base, and Croom plated Cornter with another single up the middle.

Croom's third single of the evening sparked the five-run fifth inning that all but wrapped up the victory. The frame featured three hits and three errors. Sniffen doubled home Blake Walston with a two-out double to the wall in left-center to increase the lead to 4-1.

Sniffen improved to 8-0 by allowing only five hits over seven innings. The only inning the Bulldogs threatened was the fifth. Dorian Clark led off with a single, moved to second on a ground out and advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Jack Cooney executed a squeeze bunt with two strikes to allow Clark to score. Cooney later tried to score from second base on a single to right field, but he was gunned down at the plate on a perfectly executed relay from David MacCallum to Walston to catcher Jonathan Manis.

"We have a ton of confidence in Alex," New Hanover coach Richard Foy said. "He's a low heart rate guys who believes in what we preach and that's to execute the pitch as best you can and, regardless of what happens, move on to the next pitch. He is the poster child for that."

Next up for the Wildcats is a three-game series against No. 2 D.H. Conley, which advanced with a 9-5 victory over No. 3 Fike.

Games 1 and 3 (if necessary) will be at Buck Hardee Field. The series schedule will be announced over the weekend.