Roberson moves on to state finals
By David Hubbard, STAFF WRITER
Updated: May 20 at 01:34

ASHEVILLE - The Roberson baseball team made it all the way to Raleigh last spring, but the Rams came home empty-handed.

They have no intention of repeating the process this season.

Roberson took care of business with the bats in the fourth inning and got a solid pitching effort from Bo Dickerson to knock off Central Cabarrus 6-1 Friday in the 3-A Western Regional final at Smith-Holmes Field.

With the victory the Rams (25-1) advance to the state championship series and will play the Eastern Regional champion in a best-of-three format next weekend at N.C. State. The time and location of the first game will be announced early next week.

"Having been there last year, I since a little more calmness among the players this year," Roberson coach Tom Smith said. "Not the nerves that may have hurt us a bit last year. I think that's relaxed them and made them swing the bats a lot better."

Roberson all but sealed up the victory in two key frames: the bottom of the fourth inning and the top of the fifth.

In the fourth, with the Rams holding on to a slim 2-1 advantage, Ryan Radford got things started by belting a monster solo home run over the fence in left-center field. Three batters later, Brandon Mays hit his first dinger of the season, a two-run shot that extended the lead to 5-1.

"It's such an adrenaline rush," said Mays, who had two hits and three RBI in the game. "You've got the guy on second base and you know you've got to get him in. You do what you can, and, luckily, I got that home run."

Jason Fletcher followed with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and then scored when Chris Narveson doubled off the wall.

Central Cabarrus (19-8-1) tried to mount a comeback in the fifth. With two outs and the bases loaded, he got the Vikings' Brian York to fly out to center field, extinguishing the fire.

"That was a big stretch for us - to score that many runs and then to stop them," Smith said. "But it's a heart-stopper for a coach. I was holding my breath. Getting that breathing room allowed us to relax a little bit and play our game."

Dickerson, a senior southpaw, went the distance and threw a gem, allowing just one run and four hits while walking three and striking out five.

"That was an excellent job by Bo," Smith said. "He gutted it out. It was hot and his pitch count was high going into the last inning. But what I like that I saw out of Bo was that he smelled the win and he wanted to get back out there."

Now, there is some unfinished business to tend to.

"Our team is pieced together very well, and everybody has stepped up," Mays said. "I think that we are even better than we were last year, but last year, we didn't get it done (in Raleigh). We know what to expect now and what we have to do this year, so hopefully we can bring the crown back."