TERRA CEIA — Since its formation, the Terra Ceia baseball team has assumed the role of perpetual underdog, the little brother to county rival Pungo and perennial powerhouse Lawrence, a program that won six-consecutive NCISAA 1-A state championships from 2008-2013.

But in 2008, the year the Warriors began their historic run, a group of local sixth graders were promoted to the Knights jayvee team — Austin Roscoe, Austin Wynn, Quentin Van Essendelft and Tyler Hendrix. Undersized with limited baseball experience, the players began what would be a five-year process under head coach Jason Wynn and assistant coach Roger Klaassen in hopes of shrinking the seemingly impassable space between Lawrence and the rest of the conference.

Now, in 2015, Terra Ceia has bridged the gap and last week during the Tarheel Independent Conference Tournament, the team took its first step towards potentially dethroning what’s been a 20-year baseball dynamo. After routing Ridgecroft in the first round, the Knights pieced together a five-run rally in the seventh inning against the host Northeast, locking up an improbable 8-7 win, reaching the TIC title game for the first time in history, where they met Lawrence (22-4).

Roscoe and Warriors ace Nicholas Holton found themselves locked into a pitcher’s duel, containing each respective lineup. At the end of seven, both starters still on the mound, the game was deadlocked at 1-1. Eventually, after Roscoe was pulled in the ninth due to a high pitch count of 129, Lawrence would push across the game-winning run, marking the second time in a year Lawrence has needed two extra innings to beat Terra Ceia.

“Just to see them continue to grow, develop and compete against teams like Lawrence is great,” Wynn said. “I look back a couple years ago and we were getting hammered in nonconference games by Trinity and Greenville Christian, but now we’re competing with them and turning the tables. To see the maturity, progression and growth in skill has been very good for the whole group.”

On top of the Knights’ inaugural championship appearance, this season marks the first time they’ve finished with double-digit wins (15-5), including two over Pungo, which is also a first. And their impressive regular season hasn’t gone unnoticed.

On Sunday, the NCISAA informed Wynn that Terra Ceia has received an at-large postseason bid, the first in program history.

“Just for our kids to know they were right there, having that opportunity, it gives us confidence going forward,” Wynn said. “Any time you face Lawrence, a team dominant for the last decade, not only in this conference but throughout the state, for our kids to feel like they can compete right there with them, it’s huge.”

Earning a No. 6 seed and a first-round home game at the Susiegray McConnell Complex in Washington (its home field), Terra Ceia will host Shannon Forest Christian School (14-7) tomorrow at 4 p.m.

The No. 11-seeded Crusaders finished third in the Carolinas Conference and lean on junior Warner Watkins at the plate and on the mound. Watkins is second on his team with a .442 average and has an ERA of 4.59. Watkins aside, Roscoe will have to deal with Ben McGrey, a senior, who is one of the top hitters in the tournament with a .568 average and 24 RBIs.

“You have to take it one season at a time, one game at a time, but it’s the synergy in the group that makes them believe they can achieve any goal,” Wynn said.

Despite an 8-8 record, Pungo’s solid TIC regular season showing also earned the Raiders a postseason bid, a No. 10 seed. The Raiders will take on No. 7-seeded Wayne Country Day (8-8) in Goldsboro tomorrow.