6-4-26 roundup: Pro football, basketball, baseball, hockey, auto racing, soccer and rodeo, High school baseball, Legion baseball
By Richard Walker
Cherryville High junior right-hander Brock Bumgardner became only the second player in area history to throw a no-hitter in the state high school baseball finals last week – and one of only a few documented players to do it in state history.
Bumgardner’s no-hitter with 11 strikeouts in last Wednesday’s 4-0 opening game of what became a 2-1 N.C. 2A best-of-three series loss to Rosewood was the first in more than 109 years in the area.
Ironically, the previous no-hitter also was thrown by a Cherryville pitcher.
Grier “Skipper” Friday threw the gem in a 15-strikeout, nine-inning effort against Raleigh in a one-game state final played at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s old Emerson Field in 1917. It came one year after Cherryville had been shutout 1-0 by Clayton for the 1916 title.
Friday would gain greater fame six years later as he would become Gaston County’s first major leaguer.
A pitcher for the old Washington Senators, Friday’s was a teammate of eventual Baseball Hall of Famer Walter Johnson.
Bumgardner’s gem is the first documented state finals no-hitter since 1985 and nine documented no-hitter all time in state finals competition. And the second of the nine was also thrown by a future major leaguer – Winston-Salem Gray’s Don Cardwell in 1954.
Here are all of the documented state finals no-hitters:
5-12-1917 Grier Friday, Cherryville vs. Raleigh (Championship game at Emerson Field, UNC Chapel Hill)
5-27-1954 Don Cardwell, W-S Gray vs. Sanford (Game 1 of 2A championship series at Sanford)
6-4-1958 Junior Edge, Fayetteville Massey Hill vs. Myers Park (Game 1 of 2A championship series at Massey Hill)
6-9-1960 Donald Bass, Lucama vs. West Yadkin (Game 2 of 1A championship series at Wilson Fleming Field)
6-2-1964 Al McGibbony, Greensboro Dudley vs. Fayetteville E.E. Smith (Championship game at War Memorial Stadium, Greensboro)
6-6-1964 Alex Cheek, Wilmington New Hanover vs. Greensboro Grimsley (Game 3 of 4A championship series at War Memorial Stadium, Greensboro)
6-6-1974 Parker Davis, Pikeville Aycock vs. Ragsdale (Game 1 of 3A championship series at Finch Field, High Point)
6-6-1985 Scott Muscat, Western Guilford vs. North Davidson (Game 1 of 3A championship series at North Davidson)
5-27-2026 Brock Bumgardner, Cherryville vs. Rosewood (Game 1 of 2A championship series at Burlington Athletic Park)
…Title numbers
When Cherryville dropped the last two games of their best-of-three state 2A high school baseball finals series last week, the Ironmen missed an opportunity to tie old Gastonia Ashley as the state’s all-time state finals winner.
Even worse, they were tied by Whiteville when the Wolfpack edged East Rutherford 2-1 in the 3A finals series.
Here is the list of all-time state championship winners by school:
11 — Gastonia Ashley
10 — Cherryville, Greensboro Grimsley, Whiteville
9 — Shelby
8 — East Rutherford
7 — Greenville Rose, Wilmington New Hanover, Skyland Roberson
6 — Raleigh Ligon, East Rowan, Greene Central
5 — Rocky Mount, Williamston, Wilson Fike, W-S Gray
4 — Asheboro, Clemmons, Jamesville, Kannapolis Brown, Princeton, Richmond County, South Point, Uwharrie Charter, Providence
As a county, Gaston remains atop the state with 33 championships won by nine different schools – Gastonia 11, Cherryville 10, South Point 4, Highland 2, Belmont Reid 2, Bessemer City 1, Holbrook 1, Ashbrook 1 and North Gaston 1.
Guilford County is second with 29 followed by Forsyth (17), Wake (16), Rowan (16), Columbus (15), Mecklenburg (15), Cleveland (14), Randolph (14), Martin (12), New Hanover (11), Pitt (11), Wilson (10), Rutherford (10) and Buncombe (10)