GREENSBORO, N.C. — Winning on the road in baseball can be difficult for fairly obvious reasons. With each ballpark as unique as a fingerprint, the visiting team lacks familiarity with the mound, the outfield dimensions, the backstop, the size of foul territory.

Now imagine never playing at home in three years.

That’s what Grimsley has had to do, and what it will continue doing this postseason and into next year. Its former field is no more, with a new middle school set to replace both it and Grimsley’s on-campus softball field. An on-campus field will be built eventually, but it’s not anytime soon.

And yet, here are the Whirlies (22-4), positioning themselves as one of the hottest teams in the state as the N.C. High School Athletic Association baseball playoffs are set to begin next week.

They had not won a conference title in 30 years before last week.

Friday’s 7-0 win over Ragsdale gave them the Metro Conference tournament title to back up its regular season one. The Whirlies, now ranked 12th in the state across all classifications by HighSchoolOT, have won 10 straight games — including last year’s 2A and 4A runner-ups (Burns and Ashley) in a spring break tournament.

The game was played at Stoner-White Stadium, a Greensboro Parks & Recreation facility. Most of the home games over the last three years have been at the Greensboro Grasshoppers’ home of First Bank National Field, which wasn’t available this week. For the first round of the conference tournament, top-seeded Grimsley visited eighth-seeded Western Guilford.

“I tell them, in life you’ve got to play the hands you’re dealt. We could’ve pouted and moaned and whined about not having a home site and our own field, but we just decided to use it our advantage and just be tough, blue-collar guys,” Grimsley coach Jason Simmons said. “I do think it matters for this group because they don’t get rattled.”

Simmons credited the help the program has received from the Grasshoppers and the town and also credited parents who have had to play a big role in the team’s logistics. There are still batting cages at the school, but any time in the field requires hitting the road.

“I think it’s helped us become tougher, especially having to move around and play different surfaces and differnet places,” said Clay Rosser, who got the win on the mound and drove in three runs.

Ragsdale (18-7) was held to two hits on the night. The Tigers seemed to struggle to adjust defensively to the smaller confines — it was just 319 to left field and 353 to center. Nonetheless the Whirlies ripped four doubles, a few of them over the heads of the outfield. Gabe Doolen homered as part of a six-run second inning for the Whirlies. Max Snyder had two of the doubles by himself.

Simmons talked of this year’s senior class that he knew would be special even back when they were freshmen. That was their only year in an on-campus facility. But as time has gone on, Simmons has only been proven more right.

Practices off-campus require enough under-the-radar work for Simmons to need his own personal equipment manager and travel coordinator, but he and the rest of the team have forged onward without complaint.

This year’s group has showed the resilience and adaptability that measures up to its talent. It’s that legacy they’ll leave behind whenever this year’s run ends, and it’s the high they’re rolling on as they enter next week’s playoffs.

“I told them I don’t even know where we’re practicing Monday,” Simmons said.

BOX SCORE
RAG 0-0-0-0-0-0-0 0
GRIM 0-6-0-0-1-0-x 7

Ragsdale
Ks: Kyle Maness (5)
Hits: Dillon Bullard, Aiden Chafin
XBHs: Chafin (double)

Grimsley
Ks: Clay Rosser (2), Noah Christensen (3)
Hits: Rosser, Max Snyder (2), Levi Ponder, Gabe Doolen (2), Holden Barnwell, Cullen Adams
RBIs: Snyder, Doolen (2), Ponder, Rosser (3)
XBHs: Doolen (1 double, 1 HR), Snyder (2 doubles), Rosser (double)