By Eric Lusk
Sports Editor
elusk@elkintribune.com

BOONVILLE — Surry Central’s baseball team scored in its first at-bat but couldn’t get much else going Thursday night, falling to Starmount 4-1 in the semifinals of the Mountain Valley 2A Conference tournament.

The Rams held the Golden Eagles to just one hit, a second inning single by Tanner Hudson. 

Starmount meanwhile got solo home runs from Tyler Jackson and Sam Coe in the second and third innings, respectively, to advance to tonight’s (Friday’s) MVAC championship game against Yadkin County rival Forbush. The conference finale starts at 7 p.m., while Surry Central and Wilkes Central will stage a special playoff contest at 4:30 p.m. in Boonville to decide the conference’s No. 3 seed for the upcoming state tournament.

Tyler Howard earned the win for the Rams, improving his record to 6-1. The senior pitched six strong innings, striking out 10. Tyler Jackson recorded the save, keeping Central hitless in the final frame.

Austin McLamb took the loss for the Eagles. He allowed just five hits, though two were homers. Starmount’s other two runs were unearned in the fourth inning.

“Austin did a good job keeping us off balance,” Rams coach Mike McCann said. “Fortunately, we were able to put the ball in play and make some things happen.”

Surry Central’s run came with two outs in the first inning. McLamb got aboard on a fielder’s choice, then advanced to third base on a wild pitch and a Starmount error. He came home on a wild pitch for an early 1-0 lead.

Starmount tied the game in the bottom of the second after Jackson stroked a looping liner that jumped over the right field fence. Coe gave Starmount the lead for good with his third-inning solo shot.

Justin Snow got the Rams’ fourth inning started with a single. He then moved to second base on a balk. Jake Barr advanced Snow to third base with a fielder’s choice, Derrick Wishon later got aboard with an error, with Snow scoring on the play. Another Surry Central error with Coe at the plate scored Wishon.

Starmount and Forbush split during the regular season, with each team winning on the other’s home field. While tonight’s conference tournament title game will break the tie in the season series — and give one team some county bragging rights — it won’t impact seeding for next week’s 2A playoffs.

The Rams will be the No. 1 from the MVAC no matter what by winning the conference regular season title outright. Forbush, which finished in a three-way tie for second play with Surry Central and Wilkes Central, snared the No. 2 seed by going farther in the tourney than the other two squads.

Both Surry Central and Wilkes Central are assured of state playoffs spots.

Today’s special playoff will be Surry Central’s third game in two days. The Golden Eagles had to beat North Surry on Thursday afternoon to earn the right to take on Starmount in the semifinals later in the evening.

The Eagles and Greyhounds were scheduled to play Monday but their quarterfinal contest was rained out three straight days.

The Mountain Valley 2A tournament also moved host sites three times. It was supposed to be at North Surry first, but the Greyhounds’ field took on too much water early in the week. Ashe took the tournament, but their field also was too water-logged by Wednesday.

Starmount then agreed to be the host, and fortunately the rains stayed away for Thursday’s triple-header. There is a 60 percent chance of thunderstorms this evening, according to weather.com.

Starmount 4,

Surry Central 1

MVAC Semifinals • Thursday •

at Boonville

Surry Central 100 000 0 — 1  1  3

Starmount 011 200 x — 4  5  1

WP: Tyler Howard (6-1). LP: Austin McLamb