Greene Central Opens 2025 Season With 7-4 Win Over Hunt
Greene Central Opens 2025 Season With 7-4 Win Over Hunt
The reigning 2A state champion Greene Central Rams kicked off their 2025 season with a 7-4 victory over 3A Hunt on Wednesday night. While it wasn’t their cleanest performance, the Rams capitalized on timely hitting, strong pitching, and late-inning execution to secure the win in their season opener.
"Definitely wasn’t our most complete game," head coach Brett Brann said. "I thought we played a little sloppy in the field, but our pitching did a pretty good job overall keeping us in the game and throwing strikes. We got some timely hitting and some timely offense."
Hunt, playing its second game of the season after dropping a 5-0 contest to Southwest Edgecombe, struck first with a run in the top of the first inning. Greene Central responded in the third when Will Radford’s RBI single gave the Rams a 2-1 lead.
The Rams' pitching staff kept them in the game despite some defensive miscues. The bullpen combined for seven innings, allowing just four hits while striking out 10 batters. However, six walks proved costly at times, leading to four Hunt runs—only two of which were earned. Radford started on the mound, working two innings, allowing two hits, and striking out two. Freshman Logan Burress followed with an impressive debut, tossing 2.1 innings, surrendering just one hit while striking out four and walking two. Easton Creech, who also delivered a clutch hit late in the game, earned the win after pitching 1.2 innings, giving up one hit, one walk, and striking out two. Riley Radford picked up the save, striking out two in a nearly perfect inning while issuing one walk and allowing no hits.
The back-and-forth battle continued as an error allowed Hunt to tie the game at two in the fourth, and a passed ball put the Warriors ahead 3-2 in the fifth. But Greene Central responded in a big way.
"I think every time we scored a run, Noah Roberson, who hit eighth for us, got on base," Brann said. "The guys at the bottom of the lineup did a really good job getting on for the top."
Greene Central flipped the script in the bottom of the sixth, plating five runs on two hits, highlighted by a costly Hunt error that allowed three runs to score. Radford, who delivered a key two-run single earlier in the game, later drew an intentional walk in the sixth to load the bases.
"I was up there hunting fastballs," Radford said. "That guy was throwing a lot of fastballs early in the count for strikes, so I was just trying to jump on one and hit it hard somewhere."
On being intentionally walked, Radford took it in stride.
"It was kinda a bummer, but I get it. Respect," he said.
That walk set up Easton Creech, who had been struggling at the plate but came through when it mattered most.
"I’d been struggling all night, and Coach Bryant was telling me I gotta get my foot down so I can see the pitch and see what was coming," Creech said. "I got one I could hit, got it down the line, and we got two runs in."
The Rams got contributions up and down the lineup:
Will Radford: 1-2, 2 RBIs, 2 BB
Easton Creech: 1-4, 1 RBI
Riley Radford: 2-3, 1 BB
Elijah Monroe: 2-3, 1 run
Mason Dillon: 0-0, 1 BB, 1 run
Noah Roberson: 0-1, 1 BB, 2 runs
Sutton Harris: 0-2, 1 run, 1 RBI
With their first win under their belt, Greene Central will travel to North Lenoir on Friday for a matchup against the Hawks, who opened their season with a dominant 9-1 win over Southern Wayne.
