June 7, 2009ZEBULON Air Jordan DMP Senior righthander Ryne Poplin contributed with both his arm and his bat on Saturday to lead South Stanly to a 7 2 victory over Hampstead Topsail and a sweep of the best of three High School Athletic Association state 1 A baseball championship series at Five County Stadium.

Poplin got the win Air Jordan 3 on the mound to run his record to 9 1 on the year, striking out five, and also had a run scoring single in the sixth. He entered the championship series batting a whopping .478.

Wes Hatley of South was named Most Valuable Player for the championship. The senior righthander Air Jordan 12s had a route going three hit pitching performance in the Rowdy Rebel Bulls 6 2 win in Friday night Air Jordan 17s opener and also had a hit in each game.

South Stanly built a 5 0 lead in the first three innings. A run scoring single by clean up hitter Colten Burris, South RBI leader, after a walk and a wild pitch put the Rowdy Rebel Bulls up 1 0 in the first. In the following frame, a two run triple to right by Jarad Aman moved the score to 3 0.

In the third, after a couple of Topsail errors, South catcher Matt Lisk delivered a two RBI single to make it 5 0.

Topsail sliced the lead to 5 2 in the top of the sixth with a single by Keith Gray driving home two, but the Bulls answered with a Air Jordan Fusion 5 pair in their half of the frame.

Jake Stone got the loss for Topsail.

The Rowdy Rebel Bulls finished at 25 5 on the year, winning their eighth straight game in the playoffs and capturing their first NCHSAA state baseball crown. Topsail, finishing as state runner up for a second consecutive year, wound up 21 12 but had a great stretch run after posting a 7 8 record at midseason. It was the Pirates eighth straight 20 win season.

The Raleigh Sports Consortium and Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau are serving as host city sponsors for this championship series. Wendy is the presenting sponsor of the NCHSAA sports program.