There have been quite a few scores and games to keep up with over the past several days and the table is full again for this evening.
I was talking to Lester Rivenbark Sr. last night and he was commenting on the fact that this has been one very busy week for HS baseball and Keith Miller was saying it was a shame that they couldn’t be playing the Southeast Guilford-Ragsdale game at Southeast tonight. SEG is the #1 seed and they finished first in the Mid-Piedmont 3-A regular season, in fact the Falcons ended up unbeaten in the conference but the title game with the Ragsdale Tigers will be at Eastern Randolph with no ER Wildcats in sight.
Ragsdale topped Randleman 5-3 yesterday afternoon in the opening game of the semifinals to set up tonight’s matchup with the Falcons. Nick McBride got the win for Ragsdale on Thursday and Kyle Brandenburg came in to close the game and get the last out by Daniel Tuttle with the bases loaded with Randleman Tigers in the top of the 7th inning. Two men gone, and three men on and the side-winder Brandenburg, takes care of Tuttle, for the last out.
Ben Fultz, Ryan Andrecjo, Billy Stone, and I believe Walt Sparks hit the ball well for the Tigers and they will meet Southeast Guilford tonight for the title. We could well see a re-match with Austin Moyer on the mound for SEG and David Coffey going for Ragsdale. That would be the same set-up of pitchers we saw when the two teams met at Southeast.
Southeast Guilford blasted Southwestern Randolph 11-3 Thursday night to make it an all Guilford County final and again the game will be played in Randolph County. Cam Cockman was the winning pitcher for SEG and he also had a two-run triple. Eric Seders hit the ball well for SEG and the Falcons, with Venable, Tobias, Moyer, Cockman, and Medley at the top of the order, are very tough to beat. SEG-Ragsdale tonight in the final.
West Stokes eliminated Eastern Guilford from the North State 2-A torney on Thursday, beating the EG Wildcats 10-0. Tripp Gardner(4-4) was the losing EG(11-12) pitcher. The Rockingham County Cougars ended Northern Guilford’s first-ever baseball season last night, topping the Nighthawks 5-4 in a tight one between the #1 seed(RC) and the #8 seed(NG). NG was playing some better baseball at the end of the season.
Don’t forget tonight it’s Southwest Guilford(15-9) vs. WS Reagan(14-8) at SWG at 7pm for the Piedmont Triad 3-A title. Esterlin Paulino finished the game on the mound for the SWG Cowboys on Wednesday night, will EP get the call to start for the Cowboys in the title game this evening?
Northwest Guilford eliminated Smith last night at NWG 11-0. The Vikings made quick work of the Golden Eagles with 6 runs in the first, none in the second, 5 in the third, and 0 in the fourth inning. The Vikings were up by 10 or more so they didn’t have to bat in the bottom of the fifth. The winning NWG pitcher was Stephen Mekita(2-0) and NWG moves to (16-7) on the season.
NWG meets Grimsley tonight and who will get the call for the Vikings and Whirlies? Will it be Logan Self vs. Jon Wilkinson or Robbie McIntosh vs. George Carter? Or will it be another version or variation of those players or will someone else step up?
We will have some more scores and highlights coming your way within the hour…..
Western Guilford knocked off Morehead in the Triad 3-A tournament 9-3, and McMichael stopped Southern Guilford, 9-1, in the North State 2-A tourney. In the 2-A’s this could set up a meeting with McMichael and West Stokes in the finals and in the Triad 3-A no word in on Dudley and Northeast Guilford, but let’s speculate that Dudley met Bartlett Yancey in round one and now Dudley would face Western Guilford in the semis and we’ll say that NEG upset Western Alamance then NEG would go up against Rockingham County in the semifinals. If you have any word on these games give us a shoutout in the comment box…..
Other news on times and games for tonight, we need that too…..
Does anyone know the records of pitchers David Coffey and Austin Moyer?
Coffey is 4-0. Not sure about Moyer.
Strong defense, aggressive offense, and strong fan support were the keys to Northwest winning the game over Grimsley Friday night in the 3rd meeting between the two teams. A key defensive play took place in the 4th inning with Grimsley runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs. A hit was delivered to the outfield by the Grimsley batter and the NW pitcher Logan Self immediately ran to back up the throw to the plate. The throw sailed over the NW catcher’s head ( Eric Presnell) and into Logan Self’s glove who immediately through a strike to NW 3rd baseman Robbie McIntosh. McIntosh applied the tag to a Grimsley runner who had moved too far down the 3rd base line. Rather than having the bases loaded with no outs, NW had one out with two Grimsley runners still at 1st and 2nd. Players must know where to be in game situations, and Self and McIntosh were right on spot.
Other key defensive plays for Northwest was a diving catch by Seth Hanner in centerfield, fielding of several hot shots by Robbie McIntosh on the corner at 3rd, strong fielding by Corey McKinney at shortstop in spite of getting hit on the inner left arm while in the box, and the consistent fielding of Tommy Houston at 2nd. Logan Self’s pitching got stronger in the later innings in spite of vociferous gadflies. The NW backstop, Eric Presnell , was a wall behind the plate as he has been all year.
Key hits were delivered with Self’s 3 run homer in the top of the first and Alex Swim’s 4th inning double with the bases loaded that drove in 3 runs. Both hits brought the Northwest reserves out of the dugout and the Northwest fans to their feet. The team has strong momentum going into the Metro 4A conference championship game on Monday night.
Special thanks is given to 950 AM radio for broadcasting the game. It was a special night for the Northwest team and their fans.
GO NORTHWEST!!!!