Greene Central's offense erupts in non-conference rout at Southside
CHOCOWINITY — Greene Central made the most of its non-conference trip to Beaufort County on Wednesday, using a dominant offensive performance to shut out Southside 15-0 in five innings.
The win marked the Rams’ sixth straight over the Seahawks and improved Greene Central to 9-6 overall. While it won’t impact the Eastern Plains 2A standings, the performance showed the kind of momentum the Rams hope to carry into a critical stretch of conference play.
Logan Burress continues to impress in his freshman campaign, finishing 2-for-3 with a triple, three RBIs, and three runs scored. Burress now leads the team with a .450 batting average and 14 RBIs. Easton Creech added a 3-for-3 performance that included a double and two RBIs, raising his season average to .386 while tallying his 14th run of the year.
Greene Central jumped out quickly with four runs in the first inning before exploding for seven in the second. RBI walks from Will and Riley Radford helped open the floodgates, and Everett Kirkland and Burress both delivered run-scoring extra-base hits. The Rams continued to pour it on in the third, with Trey Eatmon and Austin Oliver contributing multi-hit games.
Oliver, who also earned the start on the mound, tossed four shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out four. The freshman right-hander now holds a 0.81 ERA through 8.2 innings pitched this season. Burress finished the game with a clean fifth inning out of the bullpen.
As a team, the Rams tallied 13 hits and stole seven bases — three from Will Radford and two from Sutton Harris. Defensively, they turned two double plays and held Southside to a single hit.
Now 5-4 in Eastern Plains 2A play, Greene Central sits fifth in the standings behind Ayden-Grifton (7-2), Southwest Edgecombe (5-2), Farmville Central (5-3), and Washington (4-3). But the Rams lead the conference in runs scored (80) and have allowed just 35, giving them a conference-best +45 run differential.
With three conference games remaining — at West Craven (April 10), vs. Farmville Central (April 15), and at Farmville Central (April 16) — Greene Central still controls its path to a potential top-three finish.
A sweep of Farmville Central would be particularly impactful, as the Jaguars currently sit just ahead of the Rams in the standings. Both teams are in a tight race not just for conference positioning, but for playoff seeding as well, with Greene Central sitting No. 19 in the latest 2A East RPI rankings.
Up next, the Rams travel to West Craven for the second time in three days, aiming to complete the sweep after a 10-0 victory earlier this week.
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