They’re back.

Earning the right to defend a title is one of the toughest tasks in high school sports. To do it in a sport as unpredictable as high school baseball? Even more impressive.

T.C. Roberson won big on Tuesday night, and survived 3-1 on Thursday at Charlotte Catholic to secure its second straight 4A western regional championship.

On Saturday, the Rams will find out if they play either Ashley or Cardinal Gibbons in next week’s title series.

Runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings were enough to support Micah Simpson’s complete game effort on the hill.

Zeb Swangim got Roberson on the board with a third inning ground out to score Parker Filipek who was hit by a pitch to start the frame.

An error to start the home half of the third allowed Charlotte Catholic to quickly respond with a game-tying double off the bat of Jon Fijalkowski.

Momentum was pulled back towards the road side when Caden Davidson started the fourth inning with a four-pitch walk. His pinch runner Carson Heath stole second, moved to third on a ground out, and scored on a fielder’s choice to give the Rams the lead for good.

Swangim scored on a fifth inning error to tack on an extra run and push the lead to 3-1.

Simpson continued to prove why he is one of the state’s top big-game pitchers. The lefty scattered six hits, allowed the one unearned run, and struck out eight.

Next weekend will be the program’s ninth state championship appearance and it will be going for its sixth title.

HighSchoolOT will have coverage on Saturday of game three of the 4A eastern regional final at Ashley High School.

Source: highschoolot.com