HobbsDailyReport.com
CRAFT
GRANITE FALLS – Only two of Hickory High’s runs were earned runs on Wednesday afternoon but the Red Tornadoes still got the job done, picking up career win No. 450 for head baseball coach David Craft.
The third-seeded Red Tornadoes beat No. 2 seed South Caldwell 9-2 in a semifinal game of the Northwestern 3A-4A baseball tournament at M.S. Deal Stadium in Granite Falls.
Hickory (18-8) ran its win streak to eight games and will play the winner of a later Wednesday semifinal – No. 4 Hibriten (13-9) versus top-seeded Fred T. Foard (15-5) – for the tournament title on Friday at 7 p.m. at Deal Stadium.
Hickory is two wins away from reaching 20 for the first time since going 24-7 in 2005.
South Caldwell (17-5-1), which made five errors, will go into the state bracket as the top 4A seed from the Northwestern 3A-4A. The Spartans had already clinched that spot as the top-finishing 4A team in the conference (they were also second to Foard in the regular season race).
Pierson Hanvey and Tristan Whaley combined to five-hit South Caldwell. Hanvey went five innings, giving up four hits, and Whatley came on in the sixth inning and gave up one hit after that.
The Spartans stranded eight runners over their final six at-bats and from the second through seventh innings that had 12 chances at a hit scoring a run and didn’t get one.
South Caldwell loaded the bases in the fourth and fifth innings and netted only two runs.
Bryce Stober had two hits for the Red Tornadoes and Macory Mitchell had two hits and scored three runs as Hickory beat South Caldwell for the second time in three games this season.
The Spartans beat the Red Tornadoes 3-1 in Hudson in mid-March and Hickory won 3-0 at home on April 1.
Wednesday’s victory was Hickory’s fourth in-state this season on a neutral field. They won three games to take the Catawba Valley Easter Baseball Classic last month at the Legion Fairgrounds, downing Hibriten 3-0, Newton-Conover 4-2 and St. Stephens 2-1 to win the title.
The semifinal victory in Granite Falls improved Craft’s career record to 450-279 in his 29th season and his record at his alma mater is 430-260 in his 27th season.
A former three-sport star for the Red Tornadoes who played college baseball at Wingate, Craft’s first two seasons as a prep head baseball coach were at West Iredell.