HobbsDailyReport.com
Foard picked up its 16th win of the year on Wednesday night and can reach 17 wins for the third time in nine seasons with a tournament championship on Friday.
GRANITE FALLS – It’s tough to get a Tiger by the tail and actually do anything with it.
Top-seeded Fred T. Foard High’s pitching again carried it to a victory on Wednesday, this one 3-1 over fourth-seeded Hibriten in a semifinal of the Northwestern 3A-4A baseball tournament at M.S. Deal Stadium in Granite Falls.
Foard, the league’s regular season champion, pitched out of late-inning jams to beat the Panthers (13-10) and advance to Friday’s 7 p.m. title game against No. 3 seed Hickory (18-8), a 9-2 semifinal winner Wednesday over No. 2 seed South Caldwell.
Foard goes into the title game with three straight wins and Hickory has won eight straight since its last loss (3-2 at Foard on April 12).
The Tigers made six hits enough to beat Hibriten, shutting the Panthers down in key at-bats to reach the championship game.
Hibriten left 12 runners stranded, went 1-for-13 with runners in position to score and had a runner at third base when the third out was made in its last six at-bats.
The game was tied 1-all early. Mathew Greenwood’s leadoff single in the sixth inning got Foard cranked up. Tyler Ward had a sacrifice bunt to advance Greenwood and Foard went up by a run when Spencer Miller doubled. Miller later scored on Trent Mosley’s groundball out.
Down two runs, Hibriten threatened again in the top of the seventh inning by loading the bases. But the game ended when Foard’s Austin Houser got Brad Schmertzler on a full count strikeout and Jack Stevens popped out in the infield.
Houser got a win in relief of Tigers starter Josh McKinney, who went 5 1/3 innings (one run, six hits, three walks, 11 strikeouts that included nine of the first 20 batters he faced).
The losing pitcher for Hibriten was Houston Lawing, who allowed three runs on six hits. He struck out two and walked two.
The game’s leading hitters were Joel Gosda with two for Foard and Sabion Thomas with two for Hibriten.
The outcome of Friday’s tournament title game will not change anything regarding how the 3A teams for the conference enter the bracket. Because it was regular season champ, Foard will be the first 3A team in the Northwestern 3A-4A to be seeded, then Hickory.
Hickory finished third in the regular season but that was behind a 4A team, South Caldwell.