By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
NEWTON – Like great potato chips, one is not enough — at least not for St. Stephens High’s baseball team.
Needing a semifinal win on Tuesday to return to the championship game of the 27th annual Catawba Valley Easter Baseball Classic, the seventh-seeded Indians bit third-seeded Alexander Central 7-6 to get another taste of playing for the title.
Seventh-seeded St. Stephens goes for back-to-back championships on Wednesday, battling Hickory for the Easter Classic title.
St. Stephens (8-11), last year’s Classic champ as a No. 5 seed, goes for another tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Legion Fairgrounds, facing archrival Hickory (12-8, No. 5 seed).
Hickory advanced by clipping eighth-seeded Newton-Conover 4-2 in Tuesday’s other semifinal.
There has not been a Classic title repeat since Bunker Hill in 2010 and 2011 as a top seed. And since 2000, the only school to reach the final as a No. 7 seed remains St. Stephens (won 2009, beating No. 5 Foard 13-2 in five innings).
Going back to the final was on St. Stephens’ mind when it took the field on Tuesday to play Alexander Central, which scored in the bottom of the seventh to rally past the Indians 5-4 in their only other game this season.
“The key the last two days has been getting runs early and keep pressing,” said Noah Brown, who led the win over Alexander Central with three hits and by, in relief, getting the final out with the tying run on third base in the seventh inning.
Before the tournament began, Brown said the Indians talked about what was ahead. They were a No. 7 seed as a result of their 6-10 record at the time the event was paired. And a 7-3 loss at South Caldwell in their last game before the Classic put them at three straight losses and 1-5 in the last six games.
“We won it last year,” Brown said. “We said… ‘Repeat – why not us?’”
Last season, the Indians came into the Classic at 6-5 and beat Hibriten 6-5, Bunker Hill 9-5 and then Hickory 1-0 to take the title.
Those victories, Brown said, helped the Indians play better the rest of the way. They went 10-4 in the Northwestern 3A-4A, finishing four games back of unbeaten South Caldwell, and finished 16-10 after falling 7-0 to Piedmont in the first round of the state 3A playoffs.
“We definitely improved from this tournament,” said Brown, who is hopeful getting hot in the tournament again this year is going to turn the Indians in a different direction.
“It’s hard to put into words,” he said when asked to explain why St. Stephens has played well in each of the last two Classics. “We haven’t played our best baseball (this season) and all of a sudden we turn it on.”
Highlights from Tuesday’s second round:
No. 7 St. Stephens 7, No. 3 Alexander Central 6: St. Stephens rode Brown’s three hits, a strong game from starter JD Everett and Brown’s final inning relief pitching to victory.
Brown got the game’s final out – with the tying run on third base – by striking out Daniel Dessecker. With the count 1-1, Brown got a called second strike. He then got Dessecker swinging at a high pitch to end the game.
The Indians had 12 hits with Matt Cook, Wyatt Berlin and Weston Kerley each collecting two.
The Cougars’ 10 hits included three by Justin Cook, two by Trae Starnes and two by Rhyne Johnson.
In the sixth, Johnson belted a three-run home run that pulled Alexander Central with 7-5.
When Justin Cook singled to start the seventh against Brown, moved up on an infield single by Grayson Chapman and eventually on third base because of a wild pitch, victory was not certain for the Indians.
Fifth-seeded Hickory can become Classic champ for a sixth time with a victory on Wednesday over St. Stephens.
No. 5 Hickory 4, No. 8 Newton-Conover 2: The Red Tornadoes pitched their way past the Red Devils, using three pitchers who combined to allow four hits, two runs (one earned) with three walks and seven strikeouts.
Hickory starter Andrew Sellers did not give up a hit in four innings and walked two.
The Red Devils had the bases full in the fifth inning and scored a run but also left the bases loaded.
Travis Whaley was the Red Tornadoes’ second pitcher. He came on with an out and runners at first and second, then walked Brantley Durham before getting two outs to get out of the inning.
Whaley and a second reliever, Pierson Hanvey, did not allow a hit over the last 1 2/3 innings.
Stober and Hanvey had two hits for the Red Tornadoes and Macory Mitchell drove in three runs.
Hickory has a chance to win its sixth title – and first since 2012 – tonight. The Red Tornadoes will finish in the top three for a tournament-best 18th time.
If Newton-Conover wins the third-place game today, it will finish in the top three for the second time (won 2001 title).
No. 1 Fred T. Foard 3, No. 2 Bunker Hill 2: Mathew Greenwood delivered a two-out, game-winning hit for the Tigers in the seventh inning in a consolation game.
Josh Gosda led off the inning with a single, Caleb Lutjens had a sacrifice and Tyler Scronce walked. After Josh McKinney struck out, Greenwood singled up the middle in a hit-and-run situation to hand Foard a victory.
The Tigers (13-4-1) had seven hits with McKinney adding two and driving in a run.
Bunker Hill (12-8) had six hits, two by Devon Roberts. He drove in two runs.
Foard led 2-0 after one inning and was in front until the Bears scored in the top of the fifth for a 2-all tie.
Lutjens started for the Tigers, going five innings, and McKinney pitched the final two innings and gained a win.
Ande Farr, who came on in relief in the sixth for the Bears, took the loss.
No. 6 West Lincoln 10, No. 4 Hibriten 4: The Rebels were down by four runs before scoring 10 unanswered to beat the Panthers.
Hibriten was up 4-0 when West Lincoln (9-10) scored seven runs on eight hits in the sixth inning and then added three runs in the seventh.
Parker Chapman and Dylan Smith each had two hits for the Rebels and Sabian Thomas led the Panthers (11-8) with three hits.
Freshman Chris Moxley came on in the fourth inning to pitch and gained a win for West Lincoln, and Nicholas Walker took the loss for Hibriten.