River Bandits Reign: Tarboro Clinches 2025 ONSL Championship

The Lexington Flying Pigs and Tarboro River Bandits battled it out over the weekend as they fended for the 2025 ONSL Championship. Both teams cruised through their regional playoffs and swept the region series to make it to this point.

Game One 

The series began in Tarboro at Tarboro Municipal Stadium. The visitors struck first, and they did so immediately. Byson Arthur smoked a ball over the left field wall to give the Flying Pigs an early 2-0 lead. In what would become the theme of this game and the series as a whole, the River Bandits responded immediately. Gabe Gutter had a two-run single in the next frame to knot the score. Lexington regained the lead in the 2nd and held that lead until Gabe Gutter returned to the plate and smashed a three-run homer to give the hosts a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the third. Jake Streeter hit the second home run of the game for the Flying Pigs to halve the deficit. The next inning, Noah Hill hit a no-doubter over the center-field wall to tie the game. In the bottom half of the sixth, the River Bandits grabbed the lead and did not relinquish it. An infield single by Jake Barbour, followed by an error, scored two. Hill was not done yet as he crushed another home run to make the score 7-6 River Bandits. Jake Barbour supplied the dagger for the hosts with a two-run single in the bottom of the 8th to put the game away. Tarboro headed to Lexington with a 1-0 series lead. 

Game Two

The game got off to a quick start, similar to the first game. A key figure for the River Bandits, Gabe Gutter, plated the first run courtesy of a sacrifice fly to put the visitors on the board first. The Flying Pigs responded in the bottom half of the first. Byson Arthur singled up the middle to knot the score at one. The two teams remained in a stalemate for the next four innings before Lexington struck again. Jackson Westmoreland scored via error to put the hosts on top. The River Bandits responded again in the next frame as the bats heated up. Savoi Edwards singled to score Jake Barbour, while Gabe Gutter drove in two more runs on a single to left field. Lexington cut the deficit back to one with Roman Keith scoring on a wild pitch after his lead-off double. Tarboro then blew the game open in the next frame. Cam Mallo singled to score the first, Savoi Edwards then doubled to score two more, and Ryan Lee ended the inning with one more run-scoring single. The River Bandits held an 8-3 lead into the bottom of the 7th. The Flying Pigs did not go down without a fight, scoring two in the bottom of the seventh through Alex Naylor and Roman Keith's RBI singles. However, the visitors' bats remained on fire as they put up a seven-run eighth inning. Lexington fought back once more, but it was too late as the River Bandits sprinted out to the mound after Tristan Stephenson’s game and series-ending strikeout.

Postseason Most Valuable Player

Tarboro River Bandit’s Cam Greenway was named postseason most valuable player for his performance during the two weeks. Across six games played, the outfielder batted .683 with a 1.858 OPS. Greenway had 16 hits, driving in eight runs and crossing the plate 14 times himself.