Roberson baseball wins 4A West Region, returns to NCHSAA state championship series

Roberson baseball defeated Charlotte Catholic 3-1 on Thursday, clinching the West Region best-of-three series and advancing to the NCHSAA 4A state championship series next week.

Roberson, which beat Charlotte Catholic 13-0 in five innings Tuesday, will begin its defense of the state championship starting May 31.

The No. 1 Rams (26-4) took the lead in the third inning on a grounder by third baseman Zeb Swangim. They scored the go-ahead run in the fourth on a fielder's choice grounder off the bat of right fielder Reno Jeter after the No. 14 Cougars (23-10) tied the game in the bottom of the third.

Junior Micah Simpson threw a complete game, striking out eight, allowing six hits and no earned runs.

Roberson will play the winner of the East Regional finals between No. 1 seed Ashley and No. 22 Cardinal Gibbons. The teams split the first two games of the series and will play the final game Saturday in Wilmington at Ashley's field.

Evan Gerike is the high school sports reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email him at egerike@citizentimes.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanGerike. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Roberson baseball heads back to NCHSAA 4A state championship series