HobbsDailyReport.com
Pete Hardee’s pursuit of his next 100 baseball wins begins Tuesday night when Alexander Central High faces West Caldwell on the road.
The Northwestern 3A-4A game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
The Cougars (4-1, 2-1) collected Hardee’s 400th career victory on Saturday with a 2-1 win in Taylorsville over Western Harnett, coached by Pete Hardee’s son, Dalton.
Western Harnett outhit Alexander Central 5-3 but the Cougars scratched out a win by scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to answer a run by Western Harnett in the top of the inning.
The Cougars’ three hits came from Josh Lafone, Byron Younts, Jacob Bebber, and Younts had their only RBI.
Collin Welch had two hits and drove in a run for Western Harnett.
Zach Hammer pitched six innings, giving up five hits and a run (earned) to get a win for Alexander Central. He walked three and struck out four, with Nate Moretz collecting his first save of the season after pitching a scoreless seventh inning.
Bradley Wilson threw a complete game for Western Harnett (3-4). He gave up two runs (both earned), walked one and struck out nine.
Dalton Hardee is in his third year at Western Harnett after playing four seasons of college baseball at Mars Hill.
Pete Hardee, a former minor league player, is in his third season at Alexander Central and more than 250 of his wins came while he was head coach at Watauga.
South Caldwell 11, Hibriten 9
The Spartans remained unbeaten (6-0) by coming from behind to beat the Panthers in eight innings at Hibriten on Saturday.
Hibriten went up 6-4 with four runs in the third inning and stretched the lead to 9-4 by scoring three runs in the fourth inning.
A three-run sixth inning got South Caldwell within 9-7, and the Spartans scored twice in the seventh inning for a 9-all tie that forced extra innings.
Owen Foxx led South Caldwell with three hits and two RBIs, Jackson Brown added two hits and three RBIs, Austin Blevins drove in three runs and Clay Canale had two RBIs.
For Hibriten (2-3), leadoff hitter Matt Walker had three hits and three RBIs, Jack Stevens had three hits and drove in a run and Tyler Watson had two hits.
South Caldwell outhit the Panthers 13-12.
Daniel Dye was the winning pitcher, going four innings. He allowed five hits and no earned runs, walked three and struck out five.
Noah Haney, the third pitcher for the Panthers, took the loss after going two innings and giving up four hits, three runs (all earned). He walked two and struck out one.
South Caldwell has a conference game at home Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. against Boone (the game was originally scheduled at Watauga but the schools traded home playing dates).
Hibriten will meet Bunker Hill in Lenoir in a Northwestern Foothills 2A game with a 7 p.m. start on Tuesday.