IF YOU’RE THE TOP DOG
A look at how the top seeds have fared if they reached the title game of the Catawba County Baseball Easter Classic since overall seeds were established in 2000:
Year No. 1 seed Final
2000 Bunker Hill Won
2002 St. Stephens Won
2003 Alex Central Won
2004 Alex Central Won
2005 Mooresville Lost
2006 Foard Lost
2008 Mooresville Won
2010 Bunker Hill Won
2011 Bunker Hill Won
Notes: Prior to 2000, the tournament was paired and seeds established by pools of classifications of the participating team (i.e., 2A No. 1, 3A No. 2)… Since 2000, the top seed has failed to finish at least fourth only once (2013, No. 2 St. Stephens 4, No. 4 West Caldwell 0 in final; No. 3 Hickory 13, No. 8 Newton-Conover 5 for third; Bunker Hill was No 1 seed).
SOURCE: HobbsDailyReport.com research and files.
HobbsDailyReport.com
Jackson Palmer came within an out of a no-hitter on Tuesday night, setting up a chance for Hickory High to become the first repeat winner of the Catawba County Easter Baseball Classic since 2011.
Palmer, a right-hander, was sterling for the sixth-seeded Red Tornadoes as they blanked third-seeded Bunker Hill 6-0 in a semifinal at the Legion Fairgrounds in Newton.
Hickory (8-6) faces top-seeded Alexander Central (13-1) for the Classic championship on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Henkel-Alley Field, following a 4 p.m. third-place game between No. 4 West Lincoln (7-7) and Bunker Hill (8-5).
Alexander Central nipped West Lincoln 5-4 on Tuesday night in the other semifinal.
Hickory — assured of its 19th straight finish in the tournament’s top three spots – can share most titles in the event’s 28-year history with a title win on Wednesday. Alexander Central has seven titles, the last in 2005, and Hickory has won six.
Alexander Central is the first No. 1 seed to advance to the Classic final since Bunker Hill did in 2010 and 2011 en route to winning back-to-back championships.
Hickory won last year’s tournament as a No 5 seed, and the winners the previous two seasons were fifth-seeded St. Stephens and fourth-seeded Watauga.
No. 6 Hickory 6, No. 3 Bunker Hill 0
The Red Tornadoes won second straight game and for the fourth time in six games behind Palmer, who did not allow a hit until Garrett Poovey singled to right-center field in the seventh inning.
Hickory broke it open in the fifth inning, when Bryce Stober struck out but reached on a wild pitch that reached the backstop, stole second and scored on a hit by Pierson Hanvey.
In the sixth inning, the Red Tornadoes padded their led via a two-run single by Brody Scarborough and Macory Mitchell’s run-scoring sacrifice fly. Scarborough eventually scored on a throwing error.
Hanvey led the Red Tornadoes defensively at shortstop, helping them pull two key double plays.
Palmer’s shutout gave Hickory three for the season (25-0 Statesville, 7-0 Watauga), and the Red Tornadoes have scored 12 runs in two Classic games after scoring only 13 combined in the four games before the tournament.
No. 1 Alexander Central 5, No. 4 West Lincoln 4
Zach Hammer and Nate Moretz combined on a three-hitter as the Cougars (13-1) ran their win streak to 10 games and reached another Classic title game.
Hammer went three innings as the starter, allowing one hit, four runs (all earned) with four walks and three strikeouts.
Moretz, who got a win, pitched four innings. He gave up two hits and no runs and walked two and struck out two.
Seth Willis took the loss for the Rebels (7-7), going six innings. He allowed nine hits, five runs (three earned) with three walks and three strikeouts.
Josh Jacobs drove in two runs for Alexander Central, which had nine hits led by two from Byron Younts, Jacobs and Daniel Dessecker.
Pate Craig, Logan Carpenter and Samuel Duncan each had a hit for West Lincoln and Carpenter drove in two runs.
Alexander Central scored a run in the first inning and two more in the second inning before the Rebels tied it at 3 with a three-run third inning.
West Lincoln went up 4-3 with a run in the top of the fourth inning and Alexander Central answered that in the bottom of the inning.
The Cougars’ go-ahead run came in the sixth inning.
Alexander Central has now won all four of its one-run games this season.
No. 7 St. Stephens 10, No. 8 Newton-Conover 4
St. Stephens rallied from a four-run deficit, winning for the third time in four games and evening its overall record at 6-6.
Newton-Conover (0-12) was up 4-0 early after getting singles by Bailey Sims and Jackson Walker and four walks mixed in with two errors by the Indians. The Red Devils did not have any base runners over the final six innings.
St. Stephens tied it at 4 in the bottom of the second inning with four runs. Matt Walker’s triple drove in three of those and the other scored on J.D. Everett’s sacrifice fly.
The Indians went up 8-4 in the bottom of the fourth inning with four more runs. Tanner Rockett hit a two-run single and Owen Vansickle and Justin Bullock each earned an RBI on back-to-back bases loaded walks.
Jake Speaks drove in a run for St. Stephens in the fifth inning and Vansickle’s run-scoring hit made it 10-4.
Speaks pitched 5 2/3 innings of two-hit ball in relief Everett, with Speaks retiring 17 of the 20 batters he faced with five strikeouts and one walk.
No. 5 Hibriten 15, No. 3 Fred T. Foard 2, 5 inn.
The Panthers blew out the Tigers in their second meeting of the season. On March 22 at Foard, the Tigers won 7-5.
Hibriten (7-5) grabbed an early lead via a bases-loaded walk to Noah Haney, a balk and after an infield fly ball dropped in.
Tanner Martin’s two-run single got Foard (6-5) within a run but after that the Tigers got only a two-out single in the fifth inning by pinch-hitter Dallas Pena.
Hibriten extended its lead to 4-2 when Luke Absher walked with the bases loaded and 6-2 after Matthew Walker drove in a run with a single and Chase Gray scored on a throwing error.
A five-run fourth inning pushed the lead to 11-2, highlighted by Haney’s two-run single and Garrett Jones’ two-run double.
Haney later drew another bases-loaded RBI walk and a wild pitch scored a run.
TONY CAUSBY CLASSIC
East Lincoln 9, Freedom 7
The Mustangs scored three runs in the second and third innings en route to a victory over the Patriots at Patton.
East Lincoln (5-9) has won three of its last four games heading into Wednesday’s 2 p.m. battle with Chase (2-11) for fifth place.
Freedom (8-5) plays West Caldwell (2-11) for seventh place on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.
Patton 7, East Burke 2
The Panthers (8-6) won for the fourth time in five games, advancing to the title game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Lincoln Charter (10-2).
East Burke (4-9) plays Draughn (1-10) for third place at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
The Cavs had an early 2-0 lead on Patton via run-scoring hits by Austin Teague.
Patton went up 3-2 in the fifth inning when Ty Causby and Matt Byrd scored unearned runs.
The Panthers’ Tripp Causby protected that one-run lead by retiring the side in the fifth and sixth innings.
SHELBY EASTER TOURNAMENT
South Caldwell 10, Kings Mountain 1
Austin Blevins threw a complete game, allowing just three hits, as the Spartans rolled in a first-round game of the Shelby Easter Tournament at Shelby High.
South Caldwell (12-2) erased a 1-0 lead by the Mountaineers with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. The lead was 4-0 when the Spartans scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Owen Foxx had two hits (doubles) and Jackson Brown and Hunter Ingle each drove in two runs for South Caldwell.
Alex Bell had two hits for Kings Mountain (2-9).
The Spartans play Shelby (4-7) in a semifinal on Wednesday at 7 p.m. while Kings Mountain faces Clover, S.C. (5-11-1) on Wednesday at 11 a.m. in a consolation bracket game.
OTHERS
Bandys 6, Midway 3
The Trojans ran their win streak to five with a victory in the Bulldog Baseball Easter Invitational at Fayetteville Sanford High.
Bandys (13-1) collected career win No. 92 for Frank Porter, now in his ninth season as head coach.
No other game details were available.
The Trojans are a win away from doubling last year’s win total (7-16) and they last won at least 14 games in a season in 2014.
Bandys returns to South Fork 2A play, where it shares the league lead with North Lincoln, on April at Newton-Conover.
Whitewater (Ga.) 7, Maiden 4
The Blue Devils fell to 0-2 in the Hananhan (S.C.) Invitational and they’re scheduled to play Academic Magnet (S.C.) at 5 p.m. on Wednesday at West Ashley High.
No game details were available for the game with Whitewater.
Maiden (1-11) has lost four straight since beating winless Newton-Conover for its only win of the season on March 23.
West Iredell 8, South Iredell 5
The Warriors finished seventh in the Easter Rowan Easter Tournament in Granite Quarry.
Eli Kitchens had two hits and Brandon Gregory was the winning pitcher as West Iredell (5-10).
Lake Norman Charter 5, Providence Day 4 (Monday)
Michael Clark doubled on a 1-1 count, driving in the go-ahead run as the Knights nipped Providence Day in the Jack Sink Easter Tournament at East Mecklenburg.
Alex Lonergan was the winning pitcher for Lake Norman Charter (8-5), which snapped a three-game losing streak, and Peter Alperi threw two-thirds of an inning in relief to register a save.
Clark and Ryan Morrow had multiple hits for the Knights, who play Olympic in a tournament game at 1 p.m. on Wednesday at Myers Park.