High Point -- The groundswell of popularity garnered by the Black Knights this year propelled Robbinsville into the postseason for the first time since 2011.
In kind, the return to the playoffs Wednesday was perhaps the program's best showing in years -- even though the Knights fell victim to a no-hitter.
Robbinsville (No. 24, 10-8) simply could not solve the riddle of Thomasville sophomore Travail Barns, who struck out 10 Black Knights to help lift the Bulldogs to a 1-0 win at Truist Point Park in High Point.
Thomasville (No. 9, 12-11) manufactured the only run of the game in the bottom of the second, when Matthew Bankhead a leadoff triple and found his way home on a Bryan Serrano-Rodriguez single moments later.
With ice in his veins, however, Robbinsville senior Ethan Orr (4-5) refused to cave in and had left Bulldogs scattered all over the basepath when the inning concluded. Orr dueled Barns all night, striking out nine batters of his own and surrendering just four hits while going the distance.
The Knights only reached base twice in the loss, when Avery Webster drew a one-out walk in the second and Quinn Jumper secured a free pass that extended the outcome in the seventh. Chase Calhoun rounded first on an error to begin the third, but overslid second while trying to extend his sprint on the completely-artificial infield. Jumper went on to catch a pair of Thomasville runners stealing in the game, as the Bulldogs fell susceptible to the same misfortune.
The game was played at the home of the Rockers on a one-day delay, after Thomasville's home turf (Finch Field) incurred heavy rainfall Monday afternoon. A thunderstorm in the area Wednesday pushed back the start time 15 minutes.
Read more about the game in the May 16 edition of The Graham Star.
With Robbinsville's loss, only a few Smoky Mountain Conference schools are left standing for Friday's second-round slate. Other make-up games Wednesday saw Hiwassee Dam (5-12) get shutout 10-0 by Christ the King (18-7); and Andrews (1-14) fall 15-0 to East Wilkes (22-3).
Here is Friday's docket for the remaining divisional schools:
-Hayesville baseball (16-3) vs. Mountain Heritage (10-10);
-Robbinsville softball (21-2) vs. Murphy (13-5), which will be live-streamed through grahamstarsports.com;
-Swain County baseball (14-4) at Draughn (18-4);
-Swain County softball (11-6) at Uwharrie Charter Academy (18-3-1).