Friday’s roundup: Shelby standout makes college commitment, pro baseball trade, prep football scores, prep basketball, college basketball and baseball

By Richard Walker

Four-star recruit Malaki Hamrick of Shelby High announced his commitment to play football at the University of North Carolina on Friday afternoon before Shelby’s season-opener against East Gaston.

A 6-foot-4, 200-pound junior outside linebacker had previously announced UNC, Appalachian State, Notre Dame and Penn State were his five finalists.

Considered one of North Carolina’s top 10 prospects in the Class of 2022, Hamrick had 129 tackles, including 39 1-2 for losses and 19 on quarterback sacks, during Shelby’s state championship season in 2019 as a sophomore.

Pro baseball
Former South Point High and Appalachian State standout Jeffrey Springs was traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Tampa Bay Rays.

A 2011 South Point High graduate who was MVP for the Red Raiders when they won the 2011 N.C. 3A state championship, Springs has played in the major leagues for all or parts of the last three seasons – two with the Texas Rangers and one with the Red Sox. Springs was drafted in the 30th round of the 2015 draft by the Rangers.

High school football
Shelby 46, East Gaston 6: Quarterback Gabe Huitt scored one touchdown and passed for 108 yards with two touchdown passes to Tyler Arrington and Marquise Adams had two touchdown runs as Shelby won its opener in convincing fashion. Omar Phillips (107 yards rushing) and Izay Bridges also scored touchdowns for Shelby, with Bridges’ coming on a Daylin Lee touchdown pass. East Gaston’s touchdown came on Justin Hill’s 7-yard run. Shelby visits R-S Central next week while East Gaston hosts South Point.

Pine Lake Prep 52 Bessemer City 8: The Yellow Jackets lost their opener on the road and will return home next week at home against Union Academy.

Huss 23, North Gaston 0: Randy Thompson picked up his first head coaching victory for the Huskies, who are off until March 12 at Kings Mountain. The game was played at Stuart Cramer High School.

Saturday’s games
Cramer at Kings Mountain
Mountain Island Charter at East Lincoln

North Lincoln 10, West Lincoln 6 (Thursday): Grayson Barkley (74 yards rushing), Mason Huitt (TD pass) and Samuel Duncan (TD reception) led a 169-yard offense for West Lincoln and Curtis Goins (9 tackles, 4 assists), Christyn Neal (8 tackles, 2 assists), Evan Rye (6 tackles, 3 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, 1 assists) and Mason Avery (8 tackles) led the Rebels’ defense.

High school basketball

Six local teams – the boys basketball teams from Crest, Lincoln Charter, Mountain Island Charter, North Lincoln and Shelby and the Shelby girls basketball team – play Saturday in the N.C. High School Athletic Association third round playoff games.

Also on Saturday, Gaston Christian hosts Asheville Christian Academy in the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association Class 3A state championship game.

Each of the NCHSAA teams advanced with wins on Tuesday and Thursday and Saturday’s winners advance to Tuesday’s regional championship games that will determine the March 6 state finalists.

The full NCHSAA third round pairings:

1A girls
East
#5 East Carteret (8-6) vs. #9 Northside-Pinetown (11-4)
#3 Princeton (13-0) vs. #15 Southside (7-3)
West
#8 Robbinsville (15-1) vs. #13 Murphy (14-2)
#6 Mitchell (15-0) vs. #15 Bishop McGuinness (10-4)

2A girls
East
#9 Farmville Central (12-0) vs. #5 Randleman (12-3)
#2 McMichael (5-8) vs. #14 Croatan (13-2)
West
#1 West Stokes (13-0) vs. #5 Bunker Hill (9-0)
#2 Mountain Heritage (10-2) vs. #6 Shelby (15-0)

3A girls
East
#5 Northwood (13-0) vs. #16 Person (12-3)
#3 Eastern Alamance (13-0) vs. #7 Asheboro (13-0)
West
#1 Freedom (11-0) vs. #12 Hickory (10-2)
#2 Enka (15-1) vs. #3 Jesse Carson (16-0)

4A girls
East
#1 Ashley (14-1) vs. #5 Millbrook (13-1)
#6 Garner (14-0) vs. #7 Apex Friendship (14-2)
West
#1 Z.B. Vance (9-0) vs. #12 Independence (7-2)
#2 South Caldwell (8-6) vs. #3 Providence (8-0)

1A boys
East
#5 Riverside-Martin (13-0) vs. #8 East Carteret (12-0)
#3 Wilson Prep (4-2) vs. #7 Henderson Collegiate (9-2)
West
#1 Mitchell (10-5) vs. #5 Lincoln Charter (14-2)
#6 Mount Airy (13-3) vs. #10 Mountain Island Charter (13-2)

2A boys
East
#5 Reidsville (12-1) vs. #9 Farmville Central (12-0)
#3 Washington (10-2) vs. #15 Northeastern (9-3)
West
#1 Hendersonville (15-0) vs. #5 Mountain Heritage (13-0)
#3 North Lincoln (14-2) vs. #10 Shelby (15-1)

3A boys
East
#1 Terry Sanford (11-1) vs. #13 Northwood (12-2)
#6 West Carteret (10-2) vs. #10 Northern Guilford (16-0)
West
#1 West Rowan (14-1) vs. #4 Crest (15-1)
#2 Weddington (15-0) vs. #6 Mount Tabor (13-2)

4A boys
East
#4 Pinecrest (12-0) vs. #8 Lumberton (10-2)
#2 Millbrook (16-0) vs. #6 Apex Friendship (16-0)
West
#1 Ardrey Kell (8-0) vs. #4 R.J. Reynolds (13-1)
#3 North Mecklenburg (10-0) vs. #15 South Mecklenburg (6-2)

Here’s a look at the S.C. High School League playoffs:

5A boys
Friday’s quarterfinals
Riverside 69, Mauldin 64
Dorman 60, Ridge View 51
Dutch Fork 57, Goose Creek 51
River Bluff 71, Carolina Forest 53

Tuesday’s semifinals
Riverside vs. Dorman
Dutch Fork vs. River Bluff

4A boys
Monday’s semifinals
Greenville vs. South Pointe
Hilton Head vs. Hartsville

3A boys
Saturday’s semifinals
Keenan vs. Seneca
Marlboro County vs. Orangeburg-Wilkinson

2A boys
Monday’s semifinals
Christ School Episcopal vs. Gray Collegiate
Wade Hampton vs. Woodland

1A boys
Friday’s semifinals
Southside Christian vs. Calhoun County
Scott’s Branch vs. Baptist Hill

5A girls
Monday’s semifinals
Clover vs. Rock Hill
Wando vs. Sumter

 

College men’s basketball
Pairings have been set for the Conference Carolinas tournament, with Belmont Abbey taking the No. 2 seed.

Tuesday’s quarterfinals
#8 King (5-10) at #1 Emmanuel (11-2), 7:30 p.m.
#5 Lees-McRae (6-5) at #4 North Greenville (9-6), 6 p.m.
#6 Chowan (5-7) at #3 Southern Wesleyan (9-4), 7 p.m.
#7 Mount Olive (5-9) at #2 Belmont Abbey (13-3), 7:30 p.m.

Thursday’s semifinals
at higher seed

March 7 championship
at highest remaining seed

College women’s basketball
Pairings have been set for the Conference Carolinas tournament, with Belmont Abbey taking the No. 1 seed.

Tuesday’s quarterfinals
#8 Lees-McRae (7-9) at #1 Belmont Abbey (15-1), 5 p.m.
#5 North Greenville (8-7) at #4 King (8-6), 5 p.m.
#6 Mount Olive (6-6) at #3 Emmanuel (11-3), 5 p.m.
#7 Chowan (7-7) at #2 Barton (10-1), 5 p.m.

Thursday’s semifinals
at higher seed

March 7 championship
at highest remaining seed

Charlotte 62, UTEP 53: Octavia Jett-Wilson had 21 points and Jada McMillian 15 for the 49ers (9-7, 8-3) over the visiting Miners (15-7, 12-5). The teams play again Saturday at 3 p.m.

College baseball
Barton 1-11, Belmont Abbey 0-3: The Crusaders got swept in the final two games of the Conference Carolinas series to fall to 6-3 overall and 5-3 in the league. Mason Dodd had two hits and pitcher Alex Sniffen yielded one run and four hits in 5 2-3 innings in the opener for the Abbey and Scotty Reeves, Jake Williams and Kale Rhame had RBIs in the nightcap.