HobbsDailyReport.com
NORTHWESTERN 3A-4A
BASEBALL SEMIFINAL SCHEDULE
(Wednesday at M.S. Deal Stadium
Granite Falls)
No. 3 Hickory vs. No. 2 S. Caldwell, 4:30 p.m.
No. 4 Hibriten vs. No. 1 Fred T. Foard, 7 p.m.
The semifinals of the Northwestern 3A-4A high school baseball tournament feature the top four seeds.
The tournament moves to M.S. Deal Stadium in Granite Falls for two games on Wednesday, and the title game on Friday.
The first semifinal on Wednesday, at 4:30 p.m., is third-seeded Hickory (17-8) against No. 2 seed South Caldwell.
The other semifinal, scheduled to start at 7 p.m., pits No. 4 Hibriten (13-9) against top-seeded Fred T. Foard (15-5).
With the top four seeds left, the tournament isn’t really likely to impact any postseason positions, as Fred T. Foard earned the top seed into the 3A playoffs as the regular season champion and South Caldwell, one of two 4A schools in the league, finished second in the standings.
But a factor now in the mix for Hickory and Hibriten as they hope to earn playoff bids will be their overall wins/winning percentage relative to other teams throughout Western North Carolina who also don’t gain automatic bids by way of their conference finishes.
With 17 wins and a current win percentage of .680, Hickory is virtually assured of making the state playoffs.
In first-round games played Tuesday at the higher seeds:
No. 1 Fred T. Foard 11, No. 8 Freedom 5: The Tigers beat the visiting Patriots (5-16) for the third time this season as Foard head coach Channon Vogel picked up his 110th career victory.
Vogel reached 100 career wins on March 17 when the Tigers beat Patton 5-1 at Foard, and his career record heading into Wednesday’s game is 110-116.
Foard beat Freedom 5-0 at Foard and 4-0 at Freedom in the regular season.
The Tigers swept Hibriten in the regular season, winning 14-3 in five innings in Lenoir and 5-0 at Foard.
No. 3 Hickory 7, No. 6 St. Stephens 3: At Hickory, the Red Tornadoes moved to 4-0 this season against the archrival Indians.
Hickory gained career victory No. 449 for head coach David Craft and his 439th at his alma mater.
The Red Tornadoes’ other win over St. Stephens (9-14) this season were 8-1 at Hickory, 5-1 at St. Stephens and – in the Catawba Valley Easter Baseball Classic title game played on April 19 – 2-1.
No. 4 Hibriten 13, No. 5 Watauga 6: At Hibriten, the Panthers had their second-best run-scoring night of the season to advance.
Hibriten beat Watauga for the third time this season, already owning a 3-2 home win and a 7-2 win in Boone over the Pioneers (8-15).
The Panthers’ season-high for scoring came in a 16-5 home victory over Avery County in their second game of the season.
No. 2 South Caldwell 11, No. 7 Patton 1: Scoring at least four runs of the fourth time this season, the Spartans rolled to a five-inning home victory over the Panthers (8-17).
The Spartans had 10 runs in their most recent game, beating Watauga at home on Saturday to close out the conference regular season.
South Caldwell defeated Patton for the third time this season. The Spartans won 4-3 at Patton in their second league game of the season and beat the Panthers 5-0 in Hudson.