Junior catcher Brett Austin and junior centerfielder Jake Fincher said they still remember the celebrations after a walk-off win in the biggest game of their career to date. But this game wasn’t the final of the 2013 NCAA Baseball Tournament’s Raleigh Regional; it was played two and a half hours from the capital city, in Charlotte.
Fincher scored the winning run after Austin’s game-tying home run, giving Providence High School a dramatic late victory over cross-town rival Ardrey Kell.
The Wolfpack’s junior second baseman Logan Ratledge and sophomore pitcher Brad Stone were there too, but they were in the opposite dugout, watching their opponents celebrate.
Little did they know two years later, they would all be dog-piling together as teammates, after clinching a trip to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., the pinnacle of college baseball. But in that moment three years ago, there was nothing more important than the rivalry between the Charlotte-area schools.
“The atmosphere was crazy,” Austin said. “It’s one of the biggest rivalries. I still think that it’s a bigger rivalry than State has with Carolina. It’s definitely on a bigger scale here, but we didn’t know any better back then.”
Providence and Ardrey Kell are perennial powerhouses in North Carolina class 4A baseball. The rivalry produced intense games and large buzz around Charlotte, sometimes bringing out thousands of people to watch. It has also given its players lasting memories, along with plenty of bragging rights.
“We beat them every year in conference, but they always got us in the playoffs when it mattered,” Fincher said. “It was kind of a bummer. We look back at those games now and realize how good we had it. We’d always have at least 2,000 people there at high school games. It was pretty crazy.”
The two schools seemingly went tit for tat every year. Each side produced its own share of stars, and when the two teams met you could expect fireworks.
“We played them twice every year, and it was always a memorable game,” Ratledge said. “Sometimes they’d win and sometimes we would, but it always seemed that between the four of us [future State players], someone would do something to change the game and make an impact. It was always a lot of fun battling back and forth.”
Austin was named a high school All-American by Collegiate Baseball magazine, second-team high school All-American by Baseball America and a four-time all-conference selection. Coming to N.C. State, Austin was ranked the No. 4 freshman in the nation.
By comparison, Fincher flew under the radar… sort of. The outfielder was named an honorable-mention high school All-American by Collegiate Baseball magazine and a three time all-conference selection.
But less than nine miles away, there was another dynamic duo thriving at Ardrey Kell. Ratledge, a high school All-American his senior year as well, astonishingly broke 11 school records over his career for the Knights. While Ratledge provided the offense, Stone dominated on the mound. The southpaw blossomed as a senior, going 6-2 with a 1.19 ERA, helping the Knights to a share of the conference championship.
“Having that kind of talent on one team in high school is really a blessing,” Stone said, “And to have [Ratledge] come here is one of the reasons that I chose State. I knew him so well and knew what kind of a player he is. Also having guys like Austin and Fincher come from the same area really drove me to the Wolfpack.
“Those games set the tone for where we are now. Coming from such great programs and playing in those big games prepared us for what we face now in the ACC.”
Junior second baseman Logan Ratledge runs to first base during N.C. State’s 3-2 victory over East Carolina Wednesday afternoon at Doak Field in Raleigh.
