Laney baseball rekindles its fight in upset of New Hanover
· Yahoo Sports
Laney baseball knew the bleeding had to stop.
After a two-week stretch that brought four straight losses, a broken facial bone to its top player and a growing list of injuries, the Bucs needed something to steady themselves. Something to remind them who they were.
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"Just come out and play loose, play free," Laney coach Justin Bradley said of his message to his squad entering Tuesday.
Laney did exactly that.
With confidence and urgency, the Bucs knocked off Carolina Coast Conference leader New Hanover 5-2 at home on Tuesday, April 28. Laney (14-7, 6-5 CCC) had already beaten the Wildcats once on March 27 and remains the only area team to hand New Hanover a loss this season.
"We were just trying to find our identity after these four losses in a row," senior Owen Gore said after the win. "We know we have a talented team."
That talent showed early. Gore launched a two-run home run to give Laney a lead it never surrendered. Fellow senior Dom Civelli handled the rest, earning the win with six strikeouts while allowing just two hits and one run across a composed outing.
"We can go out and beat anyone; we just have to go compete and have fun," Civelli said. "We're going to play our hardest no matter what. We're just gonna compete no matter what."
Entering 2026 on the heels of last spring’s run to a state title series, Laney looked like the clear favorite to repeat as conference champion. With 12 seniors leading the way, the Bucs opened 5-0 before dropping tough conference matchups to Topsail and West Brunswick. Even then, they remained firmly in the hunt for the top spot.
Then came the slide. Three straight conference losses, paired with a nonconference defeat, shifted the tone of the season. The stretch tested the group, but it also forced a reset. Laney understood the direction of its season would be defined by its response.
"We still got some fight in us," Bradley said. "We still have something left in us."
Tuesday did not change the standings. New Hanover (17-6, 9-2 CCC) had already secured the Carolina Coast Conference title. But for Laney, the result carried weight beyond the standings. It served as proof of what still exists within the group.
"We knew we couldn't get the conference, so it was just a statement game to beat them twice," Gore said. "We love beating Hanover, so it's always good to beat them twice in a year."
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Laney baseball ends losing spell with upset of New Hanover