RALEIGH - Over the past 50 years, there were seven 4A state baseball champions from Mecklenburg County.

You can add third-year Ardrey Kell to that list.

The Knights got a four-hit complete game shutout from junior pitcher Ryan Butler and beat Raleigh Sanderson 1-0 Saturday at N.C. State to win the 2009 title.

Ardrey Kell, which lost in last year's state final to Greenville Rose, joins Garinger (1965), North Mecklenburg (1966), Myers Park (1970), Independence (1984), Harding (1988), South Mecklenburg (1989) and Providence (1995) as the county's champions of the past half century.

“How does it feel? Oh my God. It feels great,” said Knights senior Zico Pasuit, who will play football at East Carolina next fall. “After what happened last year (in the finals), this is amazing. This is the last baseball game I'll ever play. This is simply amazing.”

The Knights (27-8) won the first team sports state championship in their school's brief history and won the 73rd baseball game.

They recorded the winning run in the first inning. Alex Bartolomeo led off with a double. Zack Reinheimer's sacrifice fly moved him to third. Another sacrifice, by Ryan Stetson, scored Bartolomeo.

Sanderson (19-13) threatened throughout the game, but never could score. The Spartans left 10 runners on base and had a runner advance at least to second for the game's first six innings.

Ardrey Kell got out of bad situations twice with double plays – and a few times with some terrific fielding from first baseman Josh Case, who turned some semi-wayward throws into ground ball outs.

“We wiggled out of so many jams,” said Ardrey Kell coach Hal Bagwell, who won his first state title in his fourth try. “We had a few double plays and we overcame (two errors). That was huge.”

When Sanderson's best player, Charles Wolfe, grounded out to short to end the game, the Knights' team manager, Jabril Jones, came running out of the dugout ahead of his team. Jones, known as “J.J.” at school, has cerebral palsy but has found a home with the players. They carried J.J. on their shoulders as he pumped his fist in celebration as the crowd chanted his name. Standing to the side, Bagwell looked nearly in tears as he hugged his wife and two children.

“This feels better than I thought it would,” Bagwell said. “It's a culmination of everything you do. This is the highest level you can earn and so we've accomplished the best that we can accomplish. Man, this feels great.”

Bagwell had to sit in the dugout, soaked from a postgame water shower. As he tried to dodge the water, he tweaked his Achilles' tendon and was limping. The pain couldn't wipe the smile off his face.

“This brings back memories of my seniors last year who missed this (state title),” Bagwell said. “I think most of them were here today and to send this year's seniors to college with a legacy, and the way we'll be attached for the rest of our lives is irreplaceable. This is a beginning for us. We're not going to start to prepare every year to win a conference championship. This is our goal every year and now we know how to do it, and not a lot of people can that.”

Raleigh Sanderson shortstop Kyle Wigmore was just a few inches away from hitting Butler's third pitch of the game for a home run down the left field line.

“I threw a change-up,” Butler said after a four-hit shutout and a 1-0 win. “He got onto it. When it went foul, I just said, ‘It's a long strike and you've got to get in there and battle.'”  The next pitch was a swinging strike three.

Butler's a 6-foot-2 junior who has pitched in two N.C. 4A Western Regional championship series. So he knows about pressure. He spent Friday night getting ready.

While the rest of his teammates were polishing off several extra large Domino's pizzas, Butler went back to the hotel and turned out the lights around 10:30 p.m. He wouldn't normally go to bed until midnight.

He slept until 8:30 Saturday morning, and when he woke up, he stuck his iPod headphones in his ears and listened to rap to get ready.

“I needed a good night's sleep,” Butler said. “And I got up focused, and all I could think about was the game. That's all I wanted to think about.”

After the first inning, Butler got a little better. But his pitch count was high and Sanderson had a runner reach at least second base in the first six innings. Each time he got in trouble, though, Butler was able to force a fly out or a double-play ball, something to keep his shutout going.

“Butler's been that way all year,” Knights right fielder Zico Pasuit said. “He's probably the scariest pitcher I've ever played for. He starts getting behind, 2-0 and 3-0 (balls to strikes) and then he works his way back. I hated him at the beginning of the year for that, and then I got used to it. You start to shut up and trust him.”

Sure enough, Butler followed Pasuit's script.

Of the final 11 batters he faced, Butler retired nine, including the final three. He ended up giving up four hits and striking out three. And not many kids are going to throw a shutout in a state championship game.

“Ryan's been big for us for two years,” Ardrey Kell coach Hal Bagwell said. “He's the one we want in that situation. He's big, man. We got out of a lot of trouble and that's a credit to him bearing down and locating his pitches.”

After the game, Butler said he could pitch eight more innings, he felt so fresh (perhaps it was all that sleep). He also said he could split his MVP trophy up about nine ways to include his teammates.

“These guys are unbelievable,” he said. “That's the best defense I've ever played with. They won the game for me.”

Actually, they all won it for each other.

“We wanted to get off to a good start against Wolfe and that first inning was big for us,” Knights coach Hal Bagwell said.

With one out, shortstop Jack Reinheimer singled, centerfielder Ryan Stetson walked and Zico Pasut got an infield single to load the bases.

After designated hitter Alex Wood singled in two runs, first baseman Josh Case hit a ball that the Sanderson right fielder dove for, but missed, allowing Case to end up at third with two more runs across the plate. It gave Kell starting pitcher Ashton Lover (6-2) a 4-0 lead before he took the mound.

Kell kept the pressure on by getting runners on base in every inning. Pasut singled in Reinheimer, who had walked in the second. In the third, Case doubled and scored on a squeeze bunt by catcher Taylor Patterson for a 6-2 lead.

Sanderson scored single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth to cut the lead to 6-5, but the Knights added three more in the top of the seventh.

“We wanted to get Wolfe to get his pitch count up and I think that helped us get to him in the seventh,” Bagwell said.

In the of the seventh, Wood led off with a double and Cody Shelton walked before Patterson singled in a run. Brett Lang then singled in two runs for the final margin.

Bagwell said the starting pitcher for Game 2 will be either Wood (10-2) or Ryan Butler (7-1).

Sanderson (19-12), which also lost the first game of the Eastern Regionals finals to Greenville Rose last week, will got with its No. 2 starter, Max Gagnon (6-1).

“Giving up that four spot in the first inning really hurt,” Sanderson coach Todd Laughlin said. “But for us, being down is nothing new. We'll just need to play our game tomorrow. We knew coming in Kell is a good team, or they wouldn't be here.”

Ardrey Kell likely will begin the N.C.4A baseball championship series today without two key players.

Ace pitcher Alex Wood (tender arm) and shortstop Logan Ratledge (illness) aren't expected when the Knights play Raleigh Sanderson in Game1 of the best-of-3 series at 8p.m. at N.C. State.

“Obviously they're two great players and if you lose top guys, other people have to step in,” coach Hal Bagwell said. “That happened for us Monday. We talked about playing big in big situations.”

Wood (a Georgia signee) didn't pitch Game3 in the semifinal-clinching victory against North Davidson on Monday, but played as the designated hitter.

Ratledge, a sophomore who started all season, didn't play.

Ardrey Kell (25-8), a third-year school, won 5-3 to advance to the state final for the second straight year.

“We had four two-strike, two-out hits that produced runs,” Bagwell said. “I think we're seasoned for close games, and we expect them. We'll have to pitch well and play good defense.”

Alex Baker, Ashton Lover and Ryan Butler are starting pitchers, and Nick Forst is a top reliever. If Wood can't pitch, Bagwell said any combination is possible.

Sanderson (19-11) is seeking its first baseball championship. The Spartans, third seed from Cap Seven 4A, are led by Charles Wolfe, who is hitting .450 and is 7-6 on the mound.

Ardrey Kell has thrived in tough situations. The Knights rallied from a 5-0 deficit to beat rival Providence in the playoffs, then won the next game at perennial power South Caldwell. They dropped the first game of the semifinal series, then won the next two on the road.

“We have an unbelievably resilient group of kids that understand the moment and my expectations,” Bagwell said.

It's Wednesday afternoon, the hottest day of the year, and Ardrey Kell High's baseball team is going about the business of preparing for tonight's state 4A championship series against Raleigh Sanderson.

The Knights are working on fielding and catching and pitching. There's a big net behind home plate, where players take batting practice. About every 10 seconds, you can hear the ping of an aluminum bat sending a dirty white ball soaring into the outfield.

All but one player wears purple-and-white practice gear. Jabril Jones, a 16-year-old in the school's exceptional learning program, wears royal blue shorts and a matching yellow and blue striped shirt.

He's also wearing the biggest smile.

“These guys are the best,” J.J. said, grinning. “They're my buddies, you know.”

“J.J.,” as the guys call him, is the team manager. He was born with cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that affects body movement and muscle coordination. He nearly died twice at birth, and doctors resuscitated him both times. As a baby, he couldn't open his eyes.

J.J., who is about 5-foot-3, didn't walk until he was 4. He didn't talk until he was 5. Growing up in school, J.J. was always in special education classrooms, his stepfather Robert Williams said, shut out from the regular student population.

All J.J. ever wanted, Williams said, was to meet other students and fit in.

That has happened at Ardrey Kell.

Knights coach Hal Bagwell teaches an adaptive physical education class for the school's exceptional learning students.

On the first day of school in 2007, he took a special interest in J.J., and soon afterward invited him to join the team. “I knew right when I saw him, he was special,” Bagwell said. “He's just a kind, gentle-hearted kid. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body.”

Bagwell has a soft spot for special-needs kids like J.J. When Bagwell was at South Mecklenburg, he took an interest in another special-needs student named Steven Struble, who was given the nickname “Cheeseburger” because he would do an impromptu dance during Sabres' games, always to the song “Cheeseburger in Paradise.”

J.J. likes to say “Dyn-o-mite!” when something good happens, like J.J. Evans, the character from the '70s sitcom “Good Times.”

During games, J.J. sits in the dugout in his uniform. He's No.10. He shouts instructions. He high-fives players. He's become an inspiration.

“Sometimes, it's almost like we want to win more for him than for us,” Knights senior second baseman Derek Ham said. “Everybody just loves J.J.”

Just maybe not as much as J.J. loves them.

His parents say being a part of this team for the past two years has brought J.J. out of his social shell and given him hope.

“This has changed his whole life,” Williams said, “by being out here and interacting with the other players. He's never had that before.”

Bagwell requires J.J. to have good grades to participate with the team. His mother, Monica Williams, said that has not been a problem.

“It's just been amazing,” she said. “It's to the point now where I have to learn to let go. J.J. is his own man. He's learning to do things on his own and he's proving things to me even now. Like I didn't know he could pitch like that.”

Behind her, on the mound, J.J. is pitching. And smiling.

Today, J.J. wears glasses and his still eyes barely open. He doesn't say much until you bring up baseball.

He loves baseball.

“I look forward to coming out here every day,” he said. “I think we're going to win state.”

Three weeks ago, J.J. told his teammates that he'd never been to a Charlotte Knights game and said he “really, really” wanted to go. Ten players got together and asked his parents. They agreed. And J.J. had the time of his life.

“He was just looking around and asking a lot of questions,” said Ham, the second baseman. “It was just really fun to see him like that.”

It was the first time J.J. had ever gone anywhere, other than school, without his mom or dad.

“That was hard for me to do,” Monica Williams said. “He's never been alone. But with these guys, he's one of the boys. This is his domain.”

It's getting late Wednesday, and his parents are about to leave. That means J.J. has to leave practice, too. He waves to his guys. Everyone waves back, calling his name. “See you tomorrow, J.J.” “Take it easy, J.J.”

J.J. calls coach Bagwell his second dad (“he's does everything for me. He takes care of me, you know?”). Just as he walks off the field, he walks into Bagwell's open arms.

“I'll see you tomorrow,” Bagwell said.

On Friday night, Ardrey Kell High baseball coach Hal Bagwell will go chase his dream again.

Ever since he was a kid playing baseball in Charlotte, Bagwell dreamed of winning a state championship, dreamed of it the way some of us dream of winning the Powerball.

He was a good enough player at South Mecklenburg to be offered a scholarship to play at Lenoir-Rhyne, and the Sabres' teams he played on reached the state semifinals twice. Bagwell graduated in 1986. Three years later, the Sabres won the state title he craved.

By 1989, Bagwell's baseball playing career was over. He walked away from his scholarship at Lenoir-Rhyne to walk on at Appalachian State. A torn rotator cuff ended his playing career before his freshman year started.

As Bagwell watched the Sabres celebrate the 1989 state championship win against Wilson Hunt, he could only think of one thing: Someday he was going to bring South Meck another one, as a coach.

Bagwell was hired by his alma mater in 1997. Until then, I thought that Tom Knotts, then football coach at West Charlotte, was the most passionate high school coach I knew. Bagwell was a ball of fast-talking, gum-chewing emotion, determined to make his school great.

By 1999, he'd pushed an overachieving Sabres' team to the finals, where they lost to Greenville Rose, which might have been the nation's best team that season.

In 2005, South Meck lost to Greenville Conley in the finals. It was close and mistakes did the Sabres in. That loss, Bagwell said, is still tough to talk about. Two years later, Bagwell reluctantly left South Meck to coach at Ardrey Kell, falling in love with then Principal Mike Mathews' vision for the new school. Ardrey Kell was a mile from his house.

At the new school, he welcomed some former Sabres players who understood his system and others from Providence, whom he said “had been coached the right way” by Panthers coach Danny Hignight, his good friend who lives down the street.

In just its second season, Ardrey Kell lost to Greenville Rose in the 2008 finals. And after several come-from-behind wins in this postseason, Bagwell has his Knights back playing for a championship. This is his third trip in five years. And he's still chasing.

“I don't want to say I'm snakebit,” Bagwell said. “I think ‘unfortunate' is a better word. But I want this really bad. You want to be playing in June. That's the goal. If I didn't, we would just start practicing in February (right before the season). But it's tough. I've won 267 games but don't remember many of them. As a coach, you remember all the losses.”

Those losses fuel Bagwell. They keep him up at night watching film. They keep him coming back to chase that vision he's had all his life.

On Friday, he goes to N.C. State with his team to face Raleigh Sanderson in the best-of-three state championship series. He wonders if this is his time.

“I do,” he said, “I really do, but at the end of the day, we want to set ourselves up to play well at the end of the year – to get momentum and gain confidence and let that carry you to the state championship.”

And hopefully live your dream.

Monday night, the Knights overcame three deficits and held off North Davidson 5-3 to take the Western Regional title and advance to the 4A state championship series for the second consecutive season.

Ardrey Kell (25-8) will play Raleigh Sanderson at N.C. State in the best-of-3 championship series that begins Friday.

“This was a big game, but we've played in bigger games before,” said Ardrey Kell coach Hal Bagwell, who is making his fourth championship appearance in the state finals, including last year and in 1999 and 2005 as South Mecklenburg's coach. “We understood what the prize was, and every time we got down, we answered.”

North Davidson (15-13) scored one run in each of the first three innings, two on solo home runs from Cody Atkins and Trevor Henson. But Ardrey Kell answered with runs in the second and third innings. The Knights then added two runs in the fourth to take a 4-3 advantage that they would never give back.

Junior Alex Bartolomeo hit an RBI-double that scored Cody Shelton to tie the game, then senior Ryan Stetson drove Bartolomeo in with an RBI-infield single.

Stetson and Taylor Patterson led Ardrey Kell, both going 2-for-3 with an RBI.

“We put a lot of pressure on them all night, offensively and defensively,” said Bagwell, whose team won two road games.

While the Ardrey Kell offense produced five runs, it was the defense that took over.

Junior pitcher Ryan Butler, who was a game-time decision over Georgia-bound Alex Wood, led the way by going 6 1/3 innings and allowing three runs and six hits. Junior Ashton Lover, who won Saturday night's game, got the last two outs for the save.

“I told myself, ‘I was going to be ready to go, no matter what,'” Butler said, saying Wood's arm was still tender from pitching last week. “I got my chance and I think I pitched the best game of my career.”

While Ardrey Kell was solid on the mound, they were flawless in the field. Shelton also threw a runner out at home, and helped force a double-play when he faked North Davidson's Trevor Henson off second base in the bottom of the fourth inning with two on and none out.

“That play (by Shelton in the fourth inning) and our defense really changed the whole game,” said Bagwell, who told Shelton to fake a throw to second to draw North Davidson's' aggressive runners off the base. “Our defense was flawless, and that made a big difference.”

The Knights will play the third and deciding game in the N.C. 4A semifinal at 6 p.m. today at North Davidson. At stake is a trip to the state final.

Ardrey Kell rallied to win Game 2 on Saturday – 6-3 in a game played at nearby Thomasville – after dropping Game 1 at home Friday.

“We were doing the things that got us where we were,” coach Hal Bagwell said. “We didn't do any of those on Friday, but we didn't talk much about it afterward. We talked about playing with passion, and we obviously played better than we did the first game.”

The Knights trailed 5-0 in the second round of the playoffs at rival Providence, and rallied to win 6-5. They won 5-4 at South Caldwell last Tuesday after falling behind by two.

Bagwell said his starting pitcher will be a game-time decision.

Ardrey Kell (24-7) will play at North (15-12) in the deciding game of the series on at 6 p.m. Monday in Welcome. The winner will play for the state championship next weekend in the Raleigh area.

Saturday night's game was moved to Finch Field in Thomasville because North's field was saturated by recent rains. And Ardrey Kell, trying to return to the state championship series for the second straight year, took advantage of a big error in the third inning to take a 3-0 lead and rode the arm of Lover to the win.

Lover pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing only four hits with nine strikeouts and one earned run. Alex Bartolomeo of Ardrey Kell was 3 for 4 with a double and scored two runs.

“I liked the bounce back, although we left a lot of runners tonight and we had some opportunities to really get a bigger margin, but we didn't,” said coach Hal Bagwell of Ardrey Kell, adding that his team performed much better than it did during a 6-1 loss to North on Friday. “It may be that we were pressing a little bit trying to get the dagger in there, but a win's a win and we'll take it.

“Ashton Lover has been big for us all year, He has a little velocity, he has a good changeup and he mixes it pretty well. He pounds the zone and pitches to contact.”

Starter Zach Joyce of North Davidson had two outs and two runners on in the third when he induced a ground ball to shortstop from Rico Pasut. But Landon Lassiter, North's standout freshman shortstop, committed an error that eventually led to three runs.

By the time North scored its first two runs, in the sixth, it trailed 6-0.

“Huge, it was huge,” coach Mike Meadows of North said of the error. “But he has made great plays for us, and he will make a bunch of great ones to come. That error cost us a couple of runs, but the Ashton Lover kid was outstanding. Great arm action, great breaking ball, great changeup.”

Cody Atkins was 2 for 4 for North with two doubles, but the rest of North's lineup struggled against Lover. Alex Wood, Ardrey Kell's big lefthander who has committed to Georgia, relieved Lover in the sixth but pitched to only two batters before he pulled himself from the game.

Bagwell said Wood's arm was fine and he planned to start on Monday night.

Meadows said he wondered if Wood's arm was still tender from pitching last Tuesday in a win over South Caldwell.

The coach said Jordan Ramsey will start on the mound for North on Monday.

Ardrey Kell, making nearly every mistake imaginable, lost 6-1 to North Davidson in Game 1 of the N.C. 4A semifinals Friday night. Game 2 in the best-of-3 series will be at 5p.m. today at North Davidson, and a third game, if necessary, will follow.

A bad omen came on the first pitch, when Ryan Butler plunked North Davidson's Zach Joyce with a pitch. Ardrey Kell (24-8) had four errors (including two on pick-off attempts), hit three batters, walked four, had two passed balls, a wild pitch and a balk.

Offensively, they stranded eight runners, with at least one every inning.

“They totally outplayed us and deserved to win,” Ardrey Kell coach Hal Bagwell said. “We were totally unprepared to play. We weren't getting the leadoff hitter (out), which put pressure on the defense immediately. Then we were kicking it around. They had timely hits, and they're a very confident team.”

North Davidson erased any doubters who look at its 15-11 record, which included a 1-4 start. The Black Knights, who lost to Ardrey Kell in last year's semifinals, lost most of their team to graduation. But they're playing loose and confident.

Joe Tippett mixed his pitches, kept the ball low and limited Ardrey Kell to six hits.

“It's a crazy game, and Tippett proved you don't have to knock the bat out of their hands,” North Davidson coach Mike Meadows said. “We had a little timid round of batting practice, and I told them ‘Boys, now's not the time to tighten up. Nobody expected us to go this far.'”

North Davidson loaded the bases in the third on two walks and an error. Landon Lassiter, a freshman, slashed a single for a 2-0 lead.

Ardrey Kell cut it to 2-1 an inning later when Cody Shelton walked, moved to second on Josh Case's single and scored on Taylor Patterson's hard single to right.

Then Ardrey Kell unraveled during the sixth, and North Davidson scored four runs. A hit batter, a bad decision on a fielder's choice, and some timely hits made it 6-1. Dustin Murphy had an RBI single, and Joyce drilled a two-run single to right for the final runs.

“You're not going to hold Ardrey Kell down,” Meadows said. “They're probably more dangerous now. They're wounded. But those cats were in the finals last year, they'll fight.”

Despite all the mistakes, Ardrey Kell was only behind 2-1 after five innings. Now, they must win twice today on the road. It's not a tall order – they won Tuesday at South Caldwell, and at rival Providence after trailing 5-0 the game before that.

“We lost our composure tonight and it's not something we normally do,” Bagwell said. “We talked about it, and we're going to clean it up. We're very capable of doing it.”

The baseball career of Ardrey Kell senior left-hander Alex Wood has been injury-filled.

As a freshman, his throwing elbow required two surgical screws.

The summer after his sophomore season, he broke the thumb on his throwing hand.

Last year, fluid seeped into the growth plate near the same elbow. It was painful and affected his pitching.

Somehow, Wood's record was 6-1 with a 1.10 ERA, with the loss coming in the state final.

“I was throwing 74 mph,” said Wood, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound senior whose fastball has since been clocked at 93mph. “I threw a slow fastball and an even slower change-up.”

The Knights are back in the N.C. 4A Western Regional championship, and they will play at North Davidson tonight in Game1 of the best-of-3 series.

Coach Hal Bagwell said radar guns could measure Wood's velocity loss, but they couldn't measure the heart and courage it took to press through them.

“He's just special,” Bagwell said. “To do what he did and how well he did, it's incredible. He was 75 percent last year and dominated.”

Wood, who has signed a scholarship to play for Georgia, sat out summer ball to get healthy but wasn't full strength last fall, when pro scouts watched him. His fastball was clocked in the 80s.

Richard Wood, Alex's father, said the family has talked to “nine or 10” pro teams who are tracking Alex's progress. And so far, it's been pretty good. During the winter, Wood's elbow began coming around.

At 100 percent now, Wood is 10-2 with an 0.65 ERA. He has 110 strikeouts in 72 innings and three saves. He's also the Knights' designated hitter. His .466 batting average leads the team, his three home runs are second, and his 20 RBIs rank third.

In 58 at-bats, he has eight doubles.

Wood has a three-pitch repertoire: The fastball that regularly clocks over 90mph, a slider and a change-up.

“There's not a lot of guys who can throw three pitches and have command of them in high school,” he said. “I like to change speeds and keep batters off balance. It works pretty well.”

Providence coach Danny Hignight coached Wood for two years. He said he knew from the time Wood walked in the door he would be special .

“He's the real deal,” Hignight said. “He's got a tremendous work ethic and will listen to anything you say, analyze it and put it to work. He's got no rebellion in him at all, and he's got tremendous God-given ability.

“The gods gave him a thunderbolt for a left arm. Alex will throw three or four pitches for strikeouts on either side of the plate. He'll chew you up and spit you back out.”

Wood has always enjoyed baseball. Like many youngsters, he started with T-Ball at 5. Like his grandfather, James “Chippy” Carter, Wood was athletic. Carter played college basketball at North Carolina during the early '50s.

By the time Wood was 10, he was pitching for a state championship Little League team from Matthews.

Last summer, when he was sitting out to rest his elbow, he found himself driving throughout the state to watch American Legion games.

“If they're playing somewhere,” Wood said. “I'll show up. I like to fish and go to the movies, but I really like baseball.”

Wood said it feels good to be throwing again pain free.

“But even when I wasn't healthy,” he said, “I had great success. It's something I've been doing my whole life. You've got to trust yourself. Once you come back and start regaining some confidence, you know you feel good and you just trust it.”

Richard Wood said he's been impressed by his son's ability to press through the injuries.

“He's an amazing kid,” Richard Wood said, fighting back tears. “Alex is the mentally toughest, most determined young man you could ever meet and (he) persevered when most people would have given up. We couldn't be prouder of the young man he's become.”

Knights coach Bagwell has had two left-handed pitchers drafted: Chris Jones (San Francisco 1998) and Ryan Morris (Cleveland '06). He believes he's coaching a third in Wood.

Wood “has more mound presence than any pitcher I've ever coached,” Bagwell said. “In the moment, his ability to repeat a delivery and focus in, regardless of the surroundings, it's unbelievable. You match that with the stuff he's got to get people out and he's a kid that in five or six or seven years, you'll see in the big leagues.

“Alex Wood is money. If he's not the top pitcher in the state of North Carolina, I want to know who is. I want to see him.”

The scrappy Knights rallied from a five-run deficit to beat rival Providence 6-5 in an N.C. 4A third-round playoff Friday at Providence. Ardrey Kell advanced to play Tuesday at South Caldwell, which beat Butler 1-0.

Not much went right for Ardrey Kell (22-7) through two innings. The Knights had made three errors, trailed 5-0 and Providence's crowd was encouraged. But the situation wasn't new, as Ardrey Kell had rallied several times this season.

From then on, almost everything went the Knights' way. They trimmed to 5-0 deficit to 5-2 on Ryan Stetson's two-run single to left in the third.

Three runs in the fourth tied it. Logan Ratledge drew a bases-loaded walk, Stetson had a sacrifice fly and Alex Wood drilled an RBI single to right.

One inning later, Cody Shelton singled, advanced to second on Josh Case's sacrifice bunt and scored the go-ahead run on Alex Bartolomeo's double to left.

“It was a full count, so I knew he was going to come after me,” said Bartolomeo, the leadoff hitter. “We've been down a few times this year, but we're a good hitting team and know we can come back.”

Ryan Butler's superb relief pitching – one hit, no runs and four strikeouts in four innings – quelled Providence (23-6).

The game ended in high drama. Wood, a Georgia signee who won Tuesday's playoff, came in to pitch the seventh. After two quick outs, he faced Providence's Richie Shaffer, a Clemson signee who likely will be picked high in next month's Major League Baseball Draft.

“Richie is one of my best friends,” Wood said. “In that situation you can't be scared. I had to go right at him.”

Wood's electric fastball was foul-tipped on strike three (great hands by catcher Taylor Patterson), and the celebration was on.

“To get down 5-0 and have the ability to do what we did, against their ace pitcher (Shaffer) in their house was remarkable,” Ardrey Kell coach Hal Bagwell said. “It showed the character of this team. We hung in there, and nobody freaked out.”