Spartans cruise

With a 12-2 five-inning win over McDowell in Sawmills on senior night, South Caldwell guaranteed itself at least a tie for the Northwestern 4-A conference championship.

Along with the conference title, South Caldwell (17-1 overall, 9-1 conf.) would be the overall No. 1 seed throughout the North Carolina High School Athletic Association playoffs and play at home due to the conference's seeding priority.

Cody Penny picked up the win for the Spartans, extending his record to 5-0 on the season. Penny struck out five and didn't allow a walk over his five innings pitched, but said he had had better nights on the mound.

“It's nights like tonight that tell you who you are as a pitcher,” he said. “When you don't have your best stuff on the mound, it's important just to find a way to get a win.”

The Spartans found themselves down 1-0 when Justin Johnson doubled to deep center and scored on a Jarrod Hollifield groundout.

But South came roaring back in the second when Penny led off the inning with a single to left. Courtesy runner Jarrod Melton scored when a Tyler Dillard sacrifice was misplayed and thrown into right field. Dillard then scored when Jimmy Messer reached on a second infield error to give the Spartans their first lead at 2-1.

The Titans evened the score in the top of the third. Brandon Dockery reached on a dropped third strike, and consecutive singles by Josh Huskins and Johnson loaded the bases. Hollifield then grounded into a double play plating Dockery to tie the game at 2-2.

Brad Chavis led off the third inning with a double to left. Courtesy runner Hunter Tucker stole third before sliding past a tag at home to score on a Zac Greer fielder's choice.

The fourth inning was the downfall for the Titans, as the Spartans sent 11 men to the plate and scored six runs on seven hits.

The inning led off when Spencer Smith singled to right, but was erased when Dominic DiBernardi grounded into a fielder's choice. DiBernardi stole second and scored when Lucas Jackson ended an 11-pitch at-bat with a single to left. Chavis doubled to center to score Jackson, extending the Spartan lead to 5-2. Prestwood singled to left to score Tucker who was running for Chavis.

A single by Penny and a walk to Dalton Hall loaded the bases for Messer, who singled in Prestwood and Melton who was running for Penny to extend the Spartan lead to 8-2 before a Smith single score Hall to make the score 9-2 Spartans.

The final frame for the Spartans netted the Spartans the 10-run mercy rule victory.

Chavis blasted his eighth home run of the season to start the fifth-inning scoring. After Prestwood reached on an infield error and Penny reached on an outfield error to score Prestwood, Greer stepped to the plate and drove the baseball to center to score Melton and give the Spartans their third mercy-rule victory in a row.

After going homerless in his first seven games of the season, Chavis has notched six in the last four games he's played. He has eight hits in his last nine at-bats and three of those have been home runs.

“I felt some pressure going into the season wanting to do too much, but now I am more relaxed and doing a better job of watching the bat hit the ball,” Chavis said. “I feel very comfortable at the plate now.”

There was one negative on the night for the Spartans, as starting rightfielder Dillard was injured running to the fence in right field to make a play at the end of the first inning. Despite the injury, Dillard was still able to lay down a successful sacrifice in the bottom of the second before being lifted for Greer for the remainder of the game.

“I really feel for Tyler,” said Spartan coach Jeff Parham. “He's a blue-collar, hard working kid and he practices as hard as he plays. He showed a lot of heart trying to play through his injury.”

The Spartans return to action Friday as they face off with nemesis A.C. Reynolds in Asheville. Reynolds has defeated the Spartans at least once for the past four years in the regular season. Gametime Friday is set for 6:30 p.m.

JV Spartans win

South Caldwell J.V. pitcher David Evans tossed a no-hitter en route to a 5-0 Spartan win over McDowell Tuesday. Evans had four strikeouts in the win, improving South's record to 10-4 on the season.

Spartan Isaac Winkler had two hits, including one double. Thomas Ray and Kevin Jones also had doubles.

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