Hibriten, South Caldwell also pick up baseball wins on Saturday
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
Alexander Central High continued its hot baseball start on Saturday, beating Davie County 10-8 in Mocksville to improve to 7-0.
Each team had eight hits in a game that included seven errors – four by the Cougars – and included each team scoring three runs in the seventh inning.
HARDEE
Caleb Williams, Gage Weaver and Jaret Hoppes each had two hits for Alexander Central with Konor Davis driving in three runs and Maddox Jack adding two RBIs for the Cougars.
Jack was the winning pitcher, working five innings and allowing six hits, three runs (two earned) with two walks and three strikeouts.
Daniel Lawson led Davie County (3-5) with three hits and Tyler Miller had two hits and three RBIs, and David Cole Whitaker provided two hits.
Jackson Sink, the War Eagles starter, took the loss. He pitched five innings, allowing four hits, six runs (five earned) and walked four and struck out one.
The Cougars are red-hot under head coach Pete Hardee after two COVID-shortened seasons of going 3-2 and 4-9. They were 19-10 in 2017, 22-8 in 2018 and 23-9 in 2019.
Alexander Central begins Northwestern 3A-4A play this week, facing Ashe County on the road on Tuesday (6 p.m.) and going to Watauga on Friday. The Cougars have a non-league home game on Thursday (6:30 p.m.) against Mooresvile.
Hardee, a former Appalachian State star who played in the minor leagues before becoming a prep coach, unofficially has 455 career wins.
PARHAM
South Caldwell 4, Waynesville Tuscola 1
The Spartans scored three runs in the first inning In a non-league home victory, improving to 5-3 with their fifth win in six games on Saturday.
Waynesville Tuscola scored a run in the second inning before South Caldwell closed the scoring with a run in the third inning.
The Spartans had two hits and Waynesville Tuscola had five.
The win boosts the unofficial career record of South Caldwell head coach Jeff Parham to 435-107. A former Spartans baseball star, he is in his 22nd year as head coach and is also nearing 400 career wins as girls’ basketball coach
South Caldwell opens Northwestern 3A-4A play this week, facing Watauga in Boone on Tuesday (6 p.m.) and Freedom at South Caldwell on Friday.
Hibriten 11, West Caldwell 1
The Panthers (6-3) on Saturday handed the visiting Warriors their 31st straight loss behind Cameron Hodge and Jake Absher.
Hibriten led 3-0 through three innings and West Caldwell scored a run in the fourth inning. The Panthers then scored four runs in the fifth inning and three more in the sixth inning.
Hodge went 3-for-3 and drove in four runs, Absher had three hits and one RBI and Ethan Watson and Connor Woodward each added two hits for Hibriten, which had 11 hits (all singles).
West Caldwell’s hits were a double by Quinton Ford and singles by Ty Winebarger and Ashton Minton.
The Warriors (0-9) used five pitchers with Blake McElyea taking a loss in relief. He threw four innings, allowing eight hits, seven runs (one earned) and walked one and struck out six.
Freshman Joe Spears gained a win for Hibriten, going five innings. He allowed one run, walked one and struck out seven.
Hibriten, 7-7 last year in a COVID-interrupted year, starts Northwestern 3A-4A play on Tuesday at Freedom (6 p.m.) and meets Ashe County on Friday (6 p.m.) in Lenoir.
The Panthers are in their fourth season under Jeff Crisp and they are 34-19 since he became head coach.
The Warriors play a non-league home game against Avery County on Monday (5 p.m.), and Catawba Valley 2A Athletic games on Tuesday (at Newton-Conover, 5 p.m.) and on Friday (home against Bandys, 6 p.m.).
West Caldwell has not won since beating Patton in a holiday tournament in 2018-2019. The Warriors closed that season with three losses then went 0-5 the next year and 0-14 a year ago.
The Warriors have won eight games under head coach Jason Bumgarner (in his fifth season), going 8-65 since he took over.
Notes
Catawba Valley 2A Athletic
- Bandys, which next plays Newton-Conover on Tuesday night at Bandys, is a win away from matching its victory total of last season (6-8). The Trojans went 35-14 in the two seasons before COVID interrupted the season(s).
- Bunker Hill is off to a tough start (1-5 with the only win over West Caldwell) after going 13-2 last season. The Bears have had 13 consecutive winning seasons.
- East Burke, off to a start that includes a share of a first-place tie in the Catawba Valley 2A Athletic, has had 12 straight losing seasons (last winning record was 12-10 in 2009).
- Maiden has started 2-2 after going 26-16 over the previous three seasons.
- Newton-Conover (3-4, 11-3 CVAC 2A) last had a winning record (13-9) in 2001, and head coach Corey Nunley, in his 18th year, could reach 300 career losses this season (currently 75-292 unofficially).
JIMMY BOWMAN
St. Stephens head coach
Western Foothills 3A
- East Lincoln (6-0, 3-0) handed head coach Chris Matile his 250th career win when it ripped West Iredell 17-0 on Friday night in Denver, N. C. His record is 250-143 with 11 winning years, one .500 year and four losing years up to this point.
- Unofficially, Fred T. Foard head coach Channon Vogel, in his 17th season, has hit 160 career wins (160-140). The Tigers (4-1, 2-0) play a makeup game on Tuesday at Statesville.
- Hickory (2-4) has lost four straight games, being outscored 25-1 while losing its first three league games. The Red Tornadoes’ head coach, David Craft, has won 465 games in 32 years at HHS and 485 in his career. The school will name its baseball complex after Craft in a ceremony prior to an April 8 home game against North Lincoln.
- North Lincoln (5-0, 2-0) is off to a hot start in head coach Charlie Goss’ first season, outscoring opponents 31-4 with two shutout wins.
- St. Stephens is 17-4 since Jimmy Bowman became head coach and has a solid chance—after going 11-4 a year ago—to post the school’s first back-to-back winning seasons since going 19-8 in 2008 and 12-11 the next season.
- Statesville’s losing streak has climbed to 39 games. The Greyhounds’ last win was April of 2018 at home over West Rowan. They lost 15 straight games before that win and since then have not won – 0-17, 0-5 and 0-11 in the previous three seasons. They are 1-54 in their last 55 games. Statesville had a 70-game losing streak that is snapped with a win over Salisbury in 2014, its first win since 2010.
Northwestern 3A-4A
- Alexander Central (7-0) is vying for its 18th winning season in 26 years. The Cougars have had five losing years and three at .500 in that span. Head coach Peter Hardee, in his seventh year in Taylorsville, has 91 wins and 455 career wins.
- Ashe County (2-5) has played only one game (3-2 loss at North Wilkes in season-opener) in which a team has not scored at least 11 runs. The Huskies had 13 and 11 in wins and the opponent won with 11, 17, 17 and 18 runs.
Freedom, 6-13 in the past two COVID seasons, is 3-5 under new head coach Bradley Frodge and beat Avery County in back-to-back games this week, 9-0 on the road and 19-0 in Morganton.- Hibriten (6-3) has a shot at its sixth straight non-losing seasons. The Panthers were 7-7 last season after three straight four straight winning records.
- South Caldwell (5-3) has at least 24 consecutive winning seasons, as HobbsDailyReport.com’s records date back to only 1998.
- Watauga (5-20, after an 0-2 start, has won five straight in high-scoring fashion – 17-15, 11-8, 22-0, 15-2 ad 12-2. That’s outscoring opponents 78-27.
Others
- Draughn has started 5-2, has a four-game win streak and is 13-12 in Mason Biddix’s third year as head coach. That includes road wins in four of five games.
- Patton head coach Jonathan Browning, in his ninth season, is above .500 at 86-85. The Panthers were 13-5 over the two seasons shortened by COVID.
