St. Pauls stunner: Bulldogs oust No. 1 West Bladen in 1st round

BLADENBORO — When playing a game that few expect a team to win, the first step toward victory is confidence.

“When you play with confidence, I don’t feel like nothing can get in the way to stop you,” St. Pauls senior Jaden Parker said.

On the field before Tuesday’s first-round 2A state playoff game, an uninformed observer would have had no idea that St. Pauls was set to play the No. 1 seed at West Bladen. The Bulldogs were loose — but focused — and liked their chances to knock off the Knights despite two previous losses to them.

“Confidence was through the roof,” St. Pauls coach Bladen Strickland said. “I tried to tell them, it’s hard to beat a team three times; you’ve got your horse on the mound in (Parker) that they have not seen all year, J.P. only threw an inning against them in regular-season ball. I knew that if we put up five runs, we would win the ballgame.”

The Bulldogs did score five runs — one more than West Bladen, shocking the top-seeded Knights with a 5-4 win.

“We’ve been working for this all year, for a moment like this all year. We finally proved ourselves I feel like,” said Tyler Lavoie, who had two key hits for the Bulldogs. “Confidence is going to win baseball games at the end of the day.”

No. 32 St. Pauls (10-13) advanced to the second round to play at No. 16 SouthWest Edgecombe at 7 p.m. Thursday after the Cougars beat No. 17 Holmes 7-6 in a nine-inning contest Tuesday. The second-round game was originally scheduled for Friday, but was moved up a day due to forecasted inclement weather.

The Bulldogs’ win came in a back-and-forth affair, with the lead changing hands three times, West Bladen (17-5) pulling within a run in the sixth and the Knights stranding the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base in the seventh.

“We call that a baseball game — a high-level baseball game,” Strickland said. “High-level, high-leverage, a lot of high stakes, what’s on the line. A great baseball team in West Bladen. In order to win ballgames, when somebody punches you, you’ve got to punch right back and you can’t back down, because if you back down any, if you give them an inch, they’re going to take a mile. It’s like I told them before the game, give them nothing but take everything.”

Parker allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings, but only one was earned; he gave up four hits and five walks, striking out six.

“I was out of my mechanics a lot, but I delivered when I had to,” Parker said.

“J.P. is a special athlete,” Strickland said. “He could probably play three positions off the top of my head at the college level, whether it’s pitcher, short or center field; he’s going to do his thing. When he’s confident, it’s kind of hard to beat him when he’s on the mound, and if you do, tip your caps.”

Parker was also responsible for the game’s final lead change, a two-RBI single in the fifth inning that gave St. Pauls a 4-3 lead. Cameron McNeill, who reached on an error, and Jaylen Jacobs, who reached on a fielder’s choice, scored on the hit.

“He threw me a fastball, I knew I had to pound it,” Parker said.

“Big-time swing — big-time players make big-time plays,” Strickland said. “He made a play for us.”

The Bulldogs weren’t done in the fifth, as a Tyler Lavoie RBI single drove in Parker for what turned out to be the winning run.

“They gave me a first-pitch fastball, being aggressive,” Lavoie said. “It’s hard to stop us once we get hot. Once J.P. got that hit, I just knew.”

“Very big game for T-Lavoie,” Strickland said. “He’s been swinging the bat as good as you can all year; he’s hit a lot of balls on the screws straight to somebody. He’s just hitting the baseball, he’s done a phenomenal job this year.”

Lavoie, the only player with multiple hits for either team, was also key in the Bulldogs taking a 2-1 lead in the fourth; his one-out triple set the stage for a Calien McNeill sacrifice fly.

“I was thinking just put the ball in play,” Lavoie said of his triple. “They gave me that high and inside pitch and I smashed it.”

Brady Durden allowed four earned runs in 4 1/3 innings for West Bladen, striking out four; Hunter Hester pitched 2 2/3 innings in scoreless relief for the Knights, allowing two hits with one strikeout.

West Bladen took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a Cade Allen RBI double, an unearned run after J.T. Hepler reached on an error. St. Pauls got on the board when Zayin Hunt scored after reaching on a single and taking advantage of two West Bladen errors in the frame to tie the game at 1-1.

“Playoff baseball, if you give us an inch, if we give them an inch, you’ve got to take it,” Strickland said. “That’s what great programs do, all across the United States, no matter what the level, if you do the little things right, they make one mistake, you’ve got to jump on it, that’s just baseball.”

After St. Pauls took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth, the Knights retook the lead at 3-2 in the bottom half after Allister Russ and Aiden Russ each walked and later scored on a Bulldogs error.

St. Pauls’ three-run fifth gave the Bulldogs a 5-3 edge; a Jonah Bryan RBI single in the sixth pulled West Bladen within a run at 5-4.

In the seventh, Garrett Dunham led off the inning with a double and, representing the tying run, got as far as third base with another baserunner at first. But Ethan Locklear induced a flyout to right field and a groundout to third base to end the threat and the game, sparking a boisterous on-field celebration by the Bulldogs. Locklear earned the save after 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

West Bladen, the Southeastern Athletic Conference champion, beat St. Pauls 5-2 on March 25 and 13-3 on March 28; the Knights had won four of the previous five meetings before Tuesday.

St. Pauls advanced in the state playoffs for the first time since a third-round run in 2022. After beating the No. 1 seed Tuesday, there’s little doubt they’ll head into their second-round game Friday at SouthWest Edgecombe with even more confidence than before.

“We’re going to enjoy tonight, 12 o’clock hits I’m looking to see who we’re going to play come Friday and say hey boys, this is what we’ve got,” Strickland said. “I’ve got my whole staff ready for Friday, if you hit the ball and make plays, we’re more than likely going to win.”