Laney baseball reaches fourth round of playoffs for first time since 2010

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The week is still young, but it’s already been an incredible one for Laney’s TJ Ziermann.

A day after committing to UNCW, the standout senior again delivered on the mound and at the plate to lead No. 3 Laney to a 10-4 victory over No. 11 Ashley in the third round of the NCHSAA 4A playoffs.

It was the 18th consecutive win for the Buccaneers (22-4), who haven’t made this deep of a run in the postseason since claiming the 2010 state title in improbable fashion after finishing the regular season 12-8.

Ziermann allowed one run on four hits with 10 strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings to improve to 8-0 with a 1.08 ERA. He has recorded double-digit strikeouts in seven of his 11 starts.

“This was obviously a huge game and they are a great team, but I didn’t let that stress me out,” Ziermann said. “I knew I just had to come out and do what I do best.”

It was the first time two teams from Wilmington met in the third round or later since 2011 when Ashley earned a 4-2 victory over Hoggard in the fourth round.

Laney will be back at home Friday night against No. 7 Jordan, which earned a 3-0 victory at No. 2 Wakefield. 

Ashley (22-5) elected to pitch to Ziermann with runners on second and third bases and two outs in the bottom of the first inning. It turned out to be a mistake as he laced a first-pitch fastball up the middle to put the home team on top.

His courtesy runner, Dylan Cooper, was able to score a third run on a throwing error. 

Ziermann added another single in the third inning and finished 2-for-3 with a hit by pitch to increase his batting average to .439 and his on-base percentage to .489.

The Screaming Eagles had opportunities to cut into the deficit, but stranded five runners in the first four innings. A two-out single to left field from Hudson Hauck with the bases loaded in the fifth got the visitors on the board. 

Ziermann was able to avoid further damage by getting Coleman Cross to fly out. 

The Buccaneers put the game out of reach by scoring seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. The first seven batters reached base safely. Owen Gore was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Evan Skobel followed with a two-run single.

Carston Wedemeyer also had an RBI hit, while Ty Duleba and Jackson Noon were both able to cross the plate on wild pitches. A ground out from Jack Holliman plated Wedemeyer with the final run. 

Laney finished with 11 hits from eight players. Wedemeyer, Ziermann and Jackson Noon had two a piece. 

“We got into great counts all night and did a nice job of taking what was given to us and continuing to put pressure on them,” said coach Justin Bradley, was a standout pitcher at Ashley from 2004-07. “It was nice to add on the extra runs. I thought two would have been fine, but seven was great.”

Ziermann struck out the final batter he faced in the sixth inning before exiting to a standout ovation. Ashley capitalized with him out of the game by scoring three runs, but Ziermann’s excellent throw from left field to third baseman JB Brooks ended the inning. 

Ashley will graduate 12 seniors, many who were key members of last year’s team that advanced at the way to the 4A State Championship Series. Over their final two seasons, the group went 48-11 overall with five thrilling extra-inning playoff victories.