Take U.S. 70 West to Interstate 40 West. From I-40, take exit 295 (Gorman Street) and turn right at the light. Stay on Gorman for several miles, past Avent Ferry Road and past Western Blvd. Go straight through the Western traffic light and turn right at the next traffic light past Western, which is Sullivan Drive. Doak Field is the second turn on the left.
Now you know how to get there. See you in Raleigh!
Consider this your blog thread to send your good luck wishes to the Hawks. This is going to be a significant weekend for North Lenoir and Lenoir County; hope to see you up there.
For our Wayne County friends who may not have seen this (thanks to Charles Alston for calling this to my attention):
SE Players expected to play after alcohol arrests
By Robert Bell
Greensboro News and Record
GREENSBORO — Two Southeast Guilford baseball players who were cited for possession of alcohol last week will compete in this weekend’s 3-A state championship series, Falcons coach Lynn Coble said Wednesday.
“I’ve got no reason to believe they won’t play,” Coble said. “This has been handled by people other than me, and I’ve been told they can play.”
Coble declined to elaborate.
Juniors Cam Cockman and Justin Venable, both 17, received citations Friday night after Guilford County Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Sipe spotted them leaving Huff’s convenience store on Pleasant Garden Road with two other teenagers who had just bought several packages of beer.
Sipe, who thought the four boys were younger than the legal drinking age of 21, followed them to the Pleasant Garden Baptist Church parking lot nearby. The deputy said he found two 12-packs of Bud Light beer and a six-pack of Corona beer on the floorboard of the Jeep Cherokee occupied by Cockman and Venable. The other car, occupied by Randall Sanford Brooks II, 19, and Dustin Lineback, 18, contained a six-pack of Smirnoff malt beverages.
The incident occurred the same night Southeast won the 3-A West Regional championship game.
All four teens were issued citations for possession of alcohol by minors. Brooks and Lineback also were cited for buying alcohol for minors. All of the citations are misdemeanors.
Sipe said Brooks and Lineback used fake IDs to purchase the beer. He said Alco-Sensor tests indicated the teens had not been drinking.
According to Southeast Guilford’s athletics handbook, “The use of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs is prohibited.”
The handbook does not address possession of alcohol. It prohibits the use of alcohol by its athletes and lists penalties ranging from partial to full suspension. Athletics director Scott Smith said Cockman and Venable didn’t violate the school’s substance-abuse policy, but he declined to elaborate.
“This isn’t an issue anymore — it never really was,” Smith said. “All I can tell you is I guarantee you that of the 1,400 students here, (Cockman and Venable) are the only two I can guarantee you were not drinking” Friday night.
Southeast Principal Keith Kremer declined to comment.
Venable’s mother, Dana Venable, said her son and Cockman didn’t violate the school’s substance-abuse policy because, she said, they didn’t drink any alcohol.
“They made a mistake and we, their parents, are taking care of this,” she said.
Southeast plays the opener of a best-of-three series against Aycock of Pikeville at 5 p.m. Friday at N.C. State’s Doak Field in Raleigh.
Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or rbell@news-record.com
Congratulations to NL’s Cameron Beaman, Tyler Smith and George Walters, who will be featured as WCTI ABC-12’s student-athletes of the week at 6 p.m. on Thursday. Derek Bayne hosts the feature.
If you can’t watch it, get your TiVo or DVR on.
4A: FIVE COUNTY STADIUM, ZEBULON
WILMINGTON ASHLEY (24-5) vs. SOUTH CALDWELL (27-3)
Game 1: Friday, June 1 at 8 p.m.; Game 2: Saturday, June 2 at 2 pm; Game 3:
if necessary, Saturday, June 2 at 8 pm (5 pm if no third game in 1-A)
3A: DOAK FIELD, NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY, RALEIGH
SOUTHEAST GUILFORD (23-5) vs. PIKEVILLE CHARLES B. AYCOCK (28-4)
Game 1: Friday, June 1, 5 pm.; Game 2: Saturday, June 2, 11 am; Game 3: if
necessary, Saturday, June 2 at 5 pm
2A: DOAK FIELD, NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY, RALEIGH
NORTH LENOIR (24-2) vs. EAST RUTHERFORD (29-1)
Game 1: Friday, June 1, 8 pm; Game 2: Saturday, June 2 at 2 pm; Game 3: if
necessary, Saturday, June 3 at 8 pm (5 pm if no third game in 3-A)
1A: FIVE COUNTY STADIUM, ZEBULON
PRINCETON (23-6) vs. EAST SURRY (25-8)
Game 1: Friday, June 1 at 5 pm.; Game 2: Saturday, June 2 at 11 am.; Game
3: if necessary, Saturday, June 2 at 5 pm
1A East Regional Final Series
Game 1: Princeton 5, Camden 2.
Game 2: Princeton 5, Camden 2. Princeton wins series 2-0
1A West Regional Final Series
Game 1: East Surry 3, Cherryville 2. ES leads 1-0
Game 2: Cherryville at East Surry, Saturday at 4 p.m.
Game 3 (if necessary): Cherryville at East Surry, Saturday at 7 p.m.
2A East Regional Final Series
Game 1: North Lenoir 16, Whiteville 4 (5 inn.)
Game 2: North Lenoir 7, Whiteville 3. NL wins series 2-0
2A West Regional Final Series
Game 1: East Rutherford 11, West Lincoln 0 (6 inn.). ER leads 1-0.
Game 2: East Rutherford 16, West Lincoln 4 (5 inn.). ER wins series 2-0.
3A East Regional Final Series
Game 1: C.B. Aycock 5, Northern Nash 2
Game 2: Northern Nash 9, C.B. Aycock 0. Series tied 1-1.
Game 3: Northern Nash at C.B. Aycock, Saturday at 7 p.m.
3A West Regional Final Series
Game 1: SE Guilford 8, Rutherfordton-Spindale Central 4
Game 2: SE Guilford 7, R-S Central 1. SE Guilford win series 2-0.
4A East Regional Final Series
Game 1: Ashley 5, Leesville Road 2
Game 2: Ashley 5, Leesville Road 4. Ashley wins series 2-0 (Congratulations, JWade!)
4A West Regional Final Series
Game 1: South Caldwell 4, North Davidson 3
Game 2: North Davidson 8, South Caldwell 5. Series tied at 1-1
Game 3: North Davidson at South Caldwell, Saturday at 7 p.m.
North Lenoir overcomes a 3-2 deficit to beat Whiteville 7-3 in Game 2 of the 2A Eastern Finals on Friday. The Hawks will play East Rutherford, who defeated West Lincoln, 16-4, in the 2A Western finals.
Friday’s heroes included Dewitt Pope, who pitched two scoreless innings of relief to earn the win; Brandon Sutton, who was 4-for-4 with three runs scored; Andrew Manning, who had the game-winning RBIs with a single; and Sthil Sowers, who pitched two innings of five-strikeout, scoreless relief to earn the save.
Congratulations, Hawks! We’ll see you at either N.C. State’s Doak Field or Zebulon’s Five-County Stadium next Friday in Game 1 of the 2A state championships.
Click here to hear The Free Press’ own Justin Hill in the pre-game of Tuesday’s South Lenoir-Whiteville game. Some excellent analysis, including his prediction that SL would need to “put the bat on the ball.” Check it out from the Columbus County Sports Network; Justin is on about 2 minutes into the broadcast.
Here’s Justin thinking about his performance on CCSN:
Don’t forget to go here for tonight’s game broadcast from Mark Council on the CCSN.
Thanks again to our good friend, Charles Alston
1A East Regional Final Series
Game 1: Princeton 5, Camden 2 – Princeton leads 1-0.
Game 2: Princeton at Camden, Friday at 7 p.m.
Game 3 (if necessary): Camden at Princeton, Saturday at 7 p.m.
1A West Regional Final Series
Game 1: East Surry 3, Cherryville 2 – ES leads 1-0.
Game 2: Cherryville at East Surry, Saturday at 4 p.m.
Game 3 (if necessary): Cherryville at East Surry, Saturday at 7 p.m.
2A East Regional Final Series
Game 1: North Lenoir 16, Whiteville 4 (5 inn.) – NL leads 1-0.
Game 2: North Lenoir at Whiteville, Friday at 7 p.m.
Game 3 (if necessary): Whiteville at North Lenoir, Saturday at 7 p.m.
2A West Regional Final Series
Game 1: East Rutherford 11, West Lincoln 0 (6 inn.) – ER leads 1-0.
Game 2: East Rutherford at West Lincoln, Friday at 7 p.m.Game 3 (if necessary): West Lincoln at East Rutherford, Saturday at 1 p.m.
3A East Regional Final Series
Game 1: C.B. Aycock 5, Northern Nash 2 – CBA leads 1-0.
Game 2: C.B. Aycock at Northern Nash, Friday at 7 p.m.
Game 3 (if necessary): Northern Nash at C.B. Aycock, Saturday at 7 p.m.
3A West Regional Final Series
Game 1: SE Guilford 8, Rutherfordton-Spindale Central 4 – SEG leads 1-0.
Game 2: R-S Central at SE Guilford, Friday at 7 p.m.
Game 3 (if necessary): SE Guilford at R-S Central, Saturday at 7 p.m.
4A East Regional Final Series
Game 1: Ashley 5, Leesville Road 2 – Ashley leads 1-0.
Game 2: Leesville Road at Ashley, Friday at 7 p.m.
Game 3 (if necessary): Ashley at Leesville Road, Saturday at 7 p.m.
4A West Regional Final Series
Game 1: South Caldwell 4, North Davidson 3 – SC leads 1-0.
Game 2: South Caldwell at North Davidson, Friday at 7 p.m.
Game 3 (if necessary): North Davidson at South Caldwell, Saturday at 7 p.m
If you can’t go to Friday night’s game, you can listen to it here. Those boys do a great job and you’ll enjoy listening to them. Thanks to Mark Council of the Columbus County Sports Network for this great (and free!) service.
Blogging with Bryan C. Hanks 