Wingate players celebrate on the field after picking up the final out to win the NCAA Division II national championship on June 12.
                                 Photos courtesy of Wingate Athletic Communications

Wingate players celebrate on the field after picking up the final out to win the NCAA Division II national championship on June 12.

Photos courtesy of Wingate Athletic Communications

<p>The Bulldogs pose with the NCAA Division II national championship trophy after defeating Central Missouri 5-3.</p>
                                 <p>Photos courtesy of Wingate Athletic Communications</p>

The Bulldogs pose with the NCAA Division II national championship trophy after defeating Central Missouri 5-3.

Photos courtesy of Wingate Athletic Communications

Cameron Carraway was standing at the top of the dugout steps at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, anxiously awaiting the oncoming pitch from Wingate teammate Sam Broderson out on the mound.

The “whoosh” of the ball pierced the air and collided with a “thud” into the catcher’s mitt.

The umpire called strike, finishing off Broderson’s final strikeout, and that was it – the Bulldogs had won the Division II national championship for the first time in program history.

“I just had a feeling that was going to be the last pitch,” Carraway said. “(After that) I don’t even really remember. I just remember the umpire calling strike and then everybody running onto the field and just being filled with so much joy and excitement. It was really special.”

Carraway, Myles Rohleder, both Richmond County-natives, and teammate Garrett Maner, an Anson County-native, along with the team’s head coach Jeff Gregory, a Scotland County-native, all have local ties having played for Richmond Senior, Anson and Scotland, respectively, while they were in high school.

“You work all your life and have something you always dreamed of,” Maner said. “Then eventually bringing it back home when home is only 20 minutes away from here in Anson, it’s unbelievable. Especially getting to do it with people from like Richmond that I played against my whole life, like (Carraway). I’ve played against him since I was in middle school, then eventually doing that with him on the biggest stage in D-II baseball, it’s incredible.”

The state’s moniker as the “Hoop State,” may have to change soon after schools in the state have seen success in baseball at the national level with a plethora of homegrown talent. In addition to Wingate’s championship run, NC State is currently making noise in the Division I College World Series.

In fact, of the 43 total players on the Bulldogs’ roster, 32 call North Carolina home.

“I played against a lot of them or just knew them or heard of them,” Carraway said. “So it was really easy to connect with the guys whenever we all first got to school. Then, this year to build on that was really special. There was a sense of pride about it because a lot of people from home kept up with the games, sent me text messages, called me or messaged me on Instagram, Twitter and whatnot to congratulate me. I really felt the support of the community.”

Wanting to be a part of something like a championship-winning team was a big reason both Carraway and Maner committed to Wingate in high school and wanted to play for the Bulldogs.

Carraway said he knew when he first committed that it had a winning culture, with lots of winning seasons with high win totals. Maner echoed Carraway’s sentiment, adding that he knew everyone had bought into the program and what Gregory and the coaching staff was trying to do to eventually get to the national championship.

“Coach Gregory told me that the future was bright and clearly he was right,” Carraway said. “So it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life.”

But, the team’s journey to the national title was anything but easy.

The NCAA tournament run started off with a loss to No. 9 Angelo State at the beginning of the championship series, before the Bulldogs rattled off wins in five straight elimination games, culminating with their final 5-3 win over No. 2 Central Missouri on June 12 to win the championship.

Wingate became the first team to win the title by coming out of the loser’s bracket since Florida Southern in 2005.

“I think we just got comfortable with being in that environment,” Gregory said. “When we lost that first game, we got a little caught up in the environment and we were playing a really good team in Angelo State.”

Then, before that in the South Atlantic Conference tournament, the Bulldogs also suffered an early loss before they bounced back to win three straight.

Even after compiling a 39-13 record, Wingate still had to endure two tough regular season stretches, as well, including where it lost four straight back in February and another when it suffered four losses in seven games in April.

“This group has always done very well once they’d seen something the first time, whether it be challenging or whatever,” Gregory said. “They really tend to learn from it and then are able to move forward and be better because of it.”

This season marked Gregory’s 11th season leading the Bulldogs. While he said there aren’t many differences between this year’s team and teams of years past, he added that the closeness of this year’s squad set them apart during this championship run.

“Good things happened because they were such good friends and so close to one another that they were genuinely excited when somebody dealt with some things or overcame some challenges or whatever it may be,” Gregory said. “To see them have results of success, they really just relished in it, and it was a lot of fun to see that happen. It was really a tight knit group.”

Before joining Wingate as a player in 1996, Gregory was part of a number of successful Scotland baseball teams, including the 4A state runner-up squad in 1994.

He said he feels like he has been a product of his life experiences from growing up in Laurinburg to now, which have helped him get to this point in leading the Bulldogs to their title.

“We just had some tremendous people that we were around and mentors, and without knowing it helped mold us and provide us with some really good lessons that I think we all took from it and were able to grow from it,” Gregory said. “Coming out of such a small town, I saw such a tight-knit community and to see where people are going and what people have done — it’s been pretty good to go back and look at all of that.”

Reach Neel Madhavan at 910-817-2675 ext. 2751 or [email protected]. Follow on Twitter at @NeelMadhavan.