By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
No. 8 seed Newton-Conover stunned top-seeded Fred T. Foard in the tournament’s third game Monday.
NEWTON – For the sixth straight season, the Catawba Valley Easter Baseball Classic’s champion will not be the team that entered the tournament as its top seed.
It took only three games on Monday — the tournament’s opening day at the Legion Fairgrounds — to feel another shockwave as the top two seeds were quickly knocked out of the title mix.
In the opener, seventh-seeded St. Stephens blanked No. 2 Bunker Hill 2-0. That was followed by No. 3 Alexander Central beating No. 6 West Lincoln 8-2, and then came the day’s real stunner – No. 8 Newton-Conover nipped No. 1 Fred T. Foard 5-4.
No. 5 Hickory edged No. 4 Hibriten 3-0 in the nightcap, setting up these semifinals today:
- At 4 p.m., it’s St. Stephens (7-11) facing Alexander Central (13-7), a rematch of a March 3 game won 5-4 in Hickory by the Cougars.
- At 6:30 p.m., Hickory (11-8) battles Newton-Conover (4-13), their third matchup of the season. HHS won 5-2 at home and 5-3 at Newton-Conover in early March.
Consolation games today pit Bunker Hill (12-7) against Fred T. Foard (12-4-1) at 11 a.m., followed by West Lincoln (8-10) against Hibriten (11-7) at 1:30 p.m.
Foard’s opening game of the season was a 7-1 loss at home against the Bears. The Rebels and Panthers haven’t played this year.
Highlights from Monday:
No 8 Newton-Conover 5, No. 1 Fred T. Foard 4: Right-hander Eli Wright struck out 10 and the Red Devils had four timely infield hits among their nine to knock off the Tigers, who had won seven straight games.
“We usually play pretty decent up here,” said Newton-Conover head coach Corey Nunley of the Fairgrounds.
After being shutout in their two previous games – 11-0 by East Lincoln and 6-0 by Lincolnton – the Red Devils scored three runs in the second inning.
That wiped out a 3-0 deficit from Foard scoring three runs in the first inning, when Wright by walking two, hitting another two and giving up two hits. Even then, he ended up striking out the side.
Infield singles by Jared Sigmon and Daniel Rayfield led to a two-run hit by Jake Hayman in the second inning, chasing Foard starter Austin Rudisill. Dominic Colosimo came on in relief and gave up an infield single to Wright. A fielder’s choice groundball by Daniel Kahill provided a 3-all tie.
Newton-Conover went up 4-3 in the top of the fifth after Zach Goans singled and went all the way to third when outfielder Josh Gosda misplayed the ball. The go-ahead run scored on Brantley Durham’s hit down the third-base line.
Foard tied it at 4 in the fifth on Mathew Goodwood’s two-out single.
The Red Devils went back ahead in the sixth off Foard reliever Austin Houser, who came in with one out in the inning. Hayman walked, then Wright provided a near-perfect slow rolling bunt toward first that went for a hit. Kahill’s sharp single to center scored Hayman for a 5-4 lead.
Hayman got the nod to pitch the seventh for Newton-Conover. The Tigers had a runner, Gosa, on second with one out but got him in a rundown that produced an out. Hayman later enticed a flyball out from Tyler Scronce with a runner on first to close it out.
Seventh-seeded St. Stephens knocked off No. 2 Bunker Hill in the opening round Monday.
No. 7 St. Stephens 2, No. 2 Bunker Hill 0: Left-hander Riley Edwards gained his first victory of the season for the Indians, striking out seven. He and reliever Weston Kerley limited the Bears to four hits.
Matt Cook and Wyatt Berlin led St. Stephens with two hits each.
Edwards flirted with the tournament’s third all-time no-hitter until the fifth inning, when Shea Maske singled to left with one out. Edwards left with a blister on his pitching hand later in the fifth inning.
“I feel like I was an eight (on a scale of 10),” Edwards said when asked how well he pitched. “I had a couple hit batters (three) and got some pitches up in the zone but felt overall I pitched pretty well.”
Bears head coach Marty Curtis was surprised to hear it was Edwards’ first win of the season.
“Yeah, I’d be shocked,” he said of that fact. “He’s a good pitcher. The only issues he had today was when he didn’t throw strikes.”
Right-hander Devon Purdue struck out eight but took the loss for Bunker Hill.
Curtis said seeds mean little in the Classic. His 2011 Bears are the last top-seeded team to reach a final (they won).
A year ago, St. Stephens won it all as a No. 5 seed.
“You can really just throw seeds out,” Curtis said. “It’s one game a day and today St. Stephens was better than we were.”
No. 5 Hickory 3, No. 4 Hibriten 0: Baylor Pait tossed a one-hitter, William Stewart hit a two-run home run and Pierson Hanvey doubled twice as the Red Tornadoes advanced.
It was Hickory’s second win of the season over the Panthers (Hickory 5-2 at Hibriten on March 28).
Bryce Stober added two hits for Hickory, which won by shutout for the second time this season.
The victory moved Red Tornadoes head coach David Craft within seven wins to reach 450 for his career.
No. 3 Alexander Central 8, No. 6 West Lincoln 2: Matt Wilkinson backed a complete game by Zach Hammer by going 3-for-4 with a solo home run as the third-seeded Cougars won.
Alexander Central scored two runs in the first inning off Rebels starting and losing pitcher Dalton Brooks.
Run-scoring doubles by Tyler Campbell and Daniel Dessecker in the fourth helped the Cougars score three runs and they added two in the sixth.
Alexander Central had 11 hits, including two by Trae Starnes.
Dylan Burkey led West Lincoln, going 3-for-3 with an RBI in the second inning and Chase Benfield drove in the other Rebels run in the sixth with a sacrifice fly.