5th Annual Farm Bureau Invitational Championship Ends in Dramatic Finish – Wyatt Smith Reporting

Southeast Wins 5th Annual Farm Bureau Invitational in Dramatic Fashion

The hosts of the 5th annual Farm Bureau Invitational, Southeast Guilford, met Northern Guilford in the Championship game on Friday night at Newbridge Bank Park in downtown Greensboro. This is the Falcons third appearance in the Championship of the tournament that their program puts on, with a record of (1-1) in the title game, winning in 2012. Northern played their first ever Farm Bureau Invitational Championship game on Friday.

The Falcons and Nighthawks met on March 2nd of this year, and Southeast won by a score of 7-1. Friday night’s game was much closer and ended in dramatic fashion.

Northern Guilford scored a run in each of the first two innings against Southeast starter Austin Coble although only one was earned.

After the second, Coble settled down and got into a groove that he carried through the fourth inning. Coach Beasley pulled Coble for his only freshman, Ryan Douglas after getting four solid innings from Coble.

Southeast also had two huge defensive plays from second baseman Jarrett Benson. One, a diving stab and throw to get the runner, and the other a glove flip to the first baseman on a slow dribbler.

The Nighthawks started junior right hander John Clark Ouzts on the mound. Ouzts pitched a gem, scattering four hits, two walks –one intentional, hit three batters, and struck out nine Falcons. His defense played hard and well behind him and the Nighthawks didn’t allow a run until the seventh inning when Ouzts hit the first two batters. The Falcons second basemen Jarrett Benson laid down a sacrifice bunt moving the runners into scoring position, bringing Southeast senior Caleb Smith to the plate with one out and two on.

Smith hit a sharp groundball that was booted by Nighthawks second baseman Cole Chapman, allowing the tying runs to score.

The next batter for the Falcons was Justin Guy who was called safe at first on a controversial call by the umpire in the field. Nighthawks head coach Landon Kimrey came out to argue, to no avail, and the Falcons had the go-ahead run on first base. That play was a turning point in the game. The level of intensity rose drastically and would soon boil over.

The Nighthawks intentionally walked Devin Bartley, who has been swinging a hot bat for the Falcons all year, to load the bases and bring up senior Noah Marley. Marley grounded the ball back to Ouzts, who threw the ball home for the second out of the inning, and Northern catcher Logan King threw the ball wide of first base in attempt to complete the 1-2-3 double-play. The throw from King pulled Nighthawk first baseman Josh Pike off the bag, who pulled a muscle, as Justin Guy crossed the plate for the go-ahead run. Pike then threw the ball back to King, who came up the line, and a collision ensued with the Falcons’ Devin Bartley. King was knocked on his back, and Bartley was called out, which led to Bartley’s ejection from the game and caused an uproar in the crowd and on the field.

The collision made several Northern players unhappy, noticeably Cameron Cotter, who was loud and passionate about his displeasure with the Bartley slide, in Bartley’s face as he got up to head back to the dugout. Both benches cleared. There was pushing and shoving from both sides that resulted in ejections.

Northern catcher Logan King showed incredible heart and determination as he remained in the game for his final at-bat after the jarring collision on the Bartley slide.

Southeast freshman Ryan Douglas picked up the win in the game going two innings in relief of both Austin Coble and Tyler Alley. Douglas gave up no runs, walked one, struck out two, and hit a batter.

The Falcons won by a score of 3-2.

Douglas was happy with his performance.

“It was a great feeling to come in and give everything I had for my team,” the freshman said. “It was tough to get focused after all that chaos, but I kept the mindset that we needed three more outs to win the championship.”

There was tension in the air, on the field, and in the stands after the game as the teams refrained from the post-game hand-shaking ritual. The coaches from both teams, however, met at home plate to discuss their differences with one another and the events that transpired in the top of the seventh inning.

Ouzts said he felt great until the last inning, when things fell apart for his team, and Northern gave up the lead they had maintained since the first inning.

“I felt good until the last inning,” Ouzts said. “I was commanding everything, spotting curveballs, and then I got into my own head. We kind of screwed up. It happens. We’ll bounce back and get the dub.”

Northern Coach Landon Kimrey tried to take away a positive note from the game, and relay that to his team.

“Pitching and defense has been our team identity all season,” Kimrey said. “If we can keep swinging the bat well like we have been, we’re going to be a tough out, come playoff time.”

Southeast coach Dave Beasley reaped the benefits of hard work all week, as he was the go-to man and ran the tournament. Leaving with a championship is a reward for all the hard work that Coach Beasley and the Southeast Baseball Community put into making the tournament possible.

“These three games were like playoff games and that’s what we’re preparing for anyway,” Beasley said. “I hate what happened at the end. I’m the kind of person who is sensitive to things like that and wish that it hadn’t happened, but it did.”

“Even if we lost, the team morale in our dugout means as much to me as anything. You don’t see that much nowadays.”

The $1,000 Farm Bureau Scholarships went to Southeast’s Austin McDade, son of the voice of Falcon Baseball, John McDade, and the Nighthawks’ Cole Chapman received the scholarship money for the second place team.


(Nice interview with Austin McDade, from the News and Record on-line, conducted by the N&R’s J.P. Mundy and you can check it out when you
CLICK HERE.)

There’s no doubt that this will go down as one of the most dramatic and exciting games in the Farm Bureau Invitational history.

Southeast improves to (11-1),(2-0) on the season, and Northern’s record is now (10-4),(6-2).


NORTHERN GUILFORD LEADERS:

John Clark Ouzts- (LP) 7IP, 4H, 9K, 3HBP,2BB, 3R, 1ER; (2-2) 2B, RBI

Troy Minor (2-4) 2-1B, RBI

SOUTHEAST GUILFORD LEADERS

Austin Coble- 4IP, 5H, K, BB, 2R, 1ER

Ryan Douglas- (WP) 2IP, 2K, BB

Devin Bartley- (2-3)

Christian Rodriguez (0-1) R

Forrest Brothers (0-1) R

22 thoughts on “5th Annual Farm Bureau Invitational Championship Ends in Dramatic Finish – Wyatt Smith Reporting

  1. Some terrible sportsmanship shown by
    the Nighthawk fans during and after the Championship
    game loss to the Falcons.Falcons head coach was
    apologizing for the aggressive action of one of his players
    and was booed by the Nighthawk contingent.
    Show some class Hawks,you lost to the better team.

  2. I have to agree with Falcon, sorry sportsmanship on the NG side. Other than that, great ballgame!

  3. Wow. The kid from SE deliberately tried to take out the catcher. Beasley then starts running his mouth. He then tries to grab the mic at the end of the ga,e and do damage control.

  4. @You must be crazy Bartley in 190lbs nothing but muscle running full speed rounding 3rd heading home if he did not slide the catcher would have have been carted off. It was a ugly slide but still it was a slide.

  5. Coach Beasley yelled at coach Kimrey “hurry up!, the rain is coming!” In the 5th inning on a visit to the mound. Explain that one. Now that’s classless.

  6. This is horribly written, inaccurate and reported article that takes away from a good overall game. It is one-sided for SE and It highlightssome nighthawk players for no good purpose. These are high school players. If you are going report on the game be factual. No nighthawks were ejected but SE had one or more. This article should be retracted! Northern should skip this tournament next year!

  7. 1 player from SE ejected for running over a catcher, another for swinging at a northern player and NG is classless? Give me a break.

  8. There was no slide at home. The runner went shoulder first into the nighthawk catcher. I hope the catcher is ok. These teams have another month of conference games. This tournament result did not require that kind of play.

  9. I thought NG players had the utmost class, however the
    NG coach running on the field numerous times was a
    insult to his teams hard play.I won’t even mention how
    the NG fans were acting… Ultimately a SEG Freshman
    shut the Hawks down.Great ball game!

  10. We will shut this post down for the overnight and look to crank it back up tomorrow morning…

    No need for people to start going crazy…

    Very good game and excellent tournament…

    In his pre-game interview Coach Beasley(SEG) loads of good things about the Nighthawks and their effort/spirit…

    NG and SEG and for that matter all of the teams in the rournament were great kids who seemed to be enjoying the entire event…

    The NG and WES kids were having a great time pulling that tarp on Thursday night and that was just one added element of the turnament…

    Great week and super job turned in by Coach Beasley and the tournament staff….

    No need for everyone to start going crazy and spoil a good tournament…

  11. Let’s work to stay away from the hurtful comments made toward our coaches and players and try and celebrate the great effort by our players in that tournament…

    Thought just hit me this morning…Logan King held on to that ball and made the out at the plate with the runner coming into him right? Unreal effort…

    What about the effort by Josh Pike at first base to stretch and and try to stay on the bag to make the play and get the out???

    Ryan Douglas leaves the game for Southeast, but comes back into the game and gets the win and the night before, he got the save for SEG….Freshman…

    More and more outstanding efforts…We need to get ourselves and All-Tournament team started and give these kids some more pub for the outstanding efforts that they turned in…

    JC Ouzts with the pitching effort for NG…Outstanding and went the distance….

    Bailey Welch and Riley Isenhour for Randleman and Wesleyan in the 3rd Place game, a Classic battle between two outstanding pitchers…

    Devin Bartley’s defensive play in left field in the SEG-Randleman game….We could go on and on…

    Heads up running by Justin Guy for SEG in the Championship Game…

    All of the kids that won the College Scholarships…Austin McDade(SEG) and Cole Chapman(NG) from the Championship Game, plus Caleb Webster(Randleman) and Riley Isenhour(WES) from the 3rd Place Game…..

    A lot of good ground was laid down at NewBridge Bank Park this past week and all of you parents and coaches have a lot to be proud of…

    Great week and now there is next week to deal with…

    Keep working hard and do take a little time off for rest this weekend…

    Thanks to the Farm Bureau group and the Grasshoppers for and outstanding tournament….

    Give us and list for us more young men that need to be recognized in a positive manner….

    +++++If we think of more we will try and add….+++++

    Mr. Painter from UC had a good tournament too and we will keep looking to add more names here…..Jay Zarate from RC also with a good three-day run and to me, Will Sprinkle from WS Reagan was a name to remember….

  12. No coaches were ejected from either side…southeast players were ejected. get it right or don’t write it.

  13. An asst coach was ejected during the argument on the second controversial play at first base. The ejection didn’t come from the collision at the plate, but there was a coach ejected. I should’ve made that more clear.

  14. I am the mother of Devin Bartley and it is very hurtful to read these comments from people attacking my son. Let me first say my son is a catcher as well and would never intentionally try to hurt anyone during play, especially not someone he knows. It was an unfortunate play that he truly feels awful about and definitely was not trying to hurt anyone. Instead of bashing a teenager for playing the game hard please focus on how well all the teams played in the tournament and all of the great pitching and defensive plays we saw over the last few days. Northern played excellent and I know they are going to have a great remainder of the season. Good luck to not only Northern but to all the teams that played in this tournament this year.

  15. Some of the best baseball played this week. Great teams wish them all the very best. Thanks to Farm Bureau and Coach Beasley for all the work that put in to make this tournament a success. Congratulations to two great teams Southeast and Northern.

  16. Wyatt…. You are still incorrect sir. The coach was restricted to the dugout . There is a huge difference in those two. Don’t you think if he was ejected he would have been asked to leave the playing area.

  17. A couple of other player names that I thought we might add in that turned in good work were Bobby Weary(UC) at third base and Trevor Clemons behind the plate(catcher) for Randleman…Clemons had one of the best arms behind the plate that we have ever seen in this tournament…From home to second and throwing from his knees, that kid can nail it….

    We will be adding others….

  18. Nice One-on-One interview with Austin McDade(catcher) from Southeast Guilford High School and it comes in from the News and Record on-line, with J.P. Mundy and you can check it out when you CLICK HERE….

  19. Cam Cotter should be on the All-Tournament list for his complete game, 2 hit shutout in the Nighthawks first game. Josh Pike also hit a bomb in that game. How about Angel and Jehu Zurate from Rockingham county as well? Wesleyan’s Jacob Kohns also had a great performance on the mound the first day, and Adam Lassiter hit a long homer to left.

  20. My son and I went to the game just to watch some baseball at the Grasshoppers Stadium. We were not rooting for either team and we sat right behind home plate. It was a great game and very intense because it was so close and it was a championship. Indeed the NG coach was restricted to the dugout but was not ejected. They did argue a few calls that were close and I thought the calls were probably correct but very close. I do not believe that the collision at home plate was intentional. He did not in any way attempt to slide which is why he was ejected. But I don’t think he was trying to actually injure the catcher. I think it was such a bang bang play and he was going full speed and waited too long to attempt a slide but was not trying to hurt anyone. As far as fans, I thought there was some silliness on both sides and yes NG parents booed when the SEG coach spoke at the end which was not appropriate but some SEG fans were yelling inappropriate things also as I was sitting near them. I don’t think one group was any worse than the other. I imagine both sides are likely just fine most of the time but this was just a super intense game. It was a great game and the pitching was super on both sides. NG pitcher was great and that freshmen pitcher for SEG is going to be a beast…can’t believe he is only a 9th grader.

  21. I would like to apologize for reporting that there was a coach ejected. I was going on the motion made by the umpire, which appeared to me to be an ejection motion. I do my best to write informative and accurate stories, and obviously made a mistake. I hope that the readers that I upset, along with the coach, accept my apology. Thank you all for your comments and support of Greensborosports.com

  22. This will be my final post about this game. I just got off the phone with Northern catcher Logan King’s father and he gave me an update on Logan’s condition. He didn’t suffer a concussion or any broken bones. He is sore, but his dad said he should be okay. Glad that there were no serious injuries, that’s the important thing.

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