Pioneers take first place
By Steve Behr
 
If Watauga’s baseball team was going to put some distance between itself and McDowell, both in their game Thursday night and in the Northwestern 4-A Conference standings, the Pioneers needed to have a big fifth inning.

Watauga brought its top of the order to the plate in the inning, and though the same players may have been available in the sixth or seventh innings, scoring runs in the fifth would have given the Pioneers some needed breathing room.

Tied in a 2-2 deadlock, the Pioneers broke the game open with a four-run fifth and leaned on the pitching of Jon Sharpe to preserve a 6-2 victory Thursday night. The win put Watauga (10-3, 7-1 NWC) in sole possession of first place in the Northwestern 4-A Conference, one game in front of both McDowell (10-3, 6-2) and South Caldwell (9-2, 6-2).

“It feels good to be on top,” Watauga coach Pete Hardee said. “I told them after the game that the toughest road is coming up. The Alexanders, the East Burkes, the A.C. Reynolds’s, those games are going to be tough and we have to take care of them because these teams (South Caldwell and McDowell) aren’t going to quit. We’ve got to get the job done every night.”

Though Watauga had already scored two runs, it took until the fifth inning to really get the job done against McDowell. The Pioneers got a key two-run home run from Adam Church in the fifth, and an RBI double from Trey Lowder, who went 3-for-3 against the Titans, including a double in the second inning.

“Coach Hardee has been working with me in practice and I finally got my bat working tonight,” Lowder said. “It’s about time. I’ve been getting frustrated with it, but I saw it end tonight.”

Phil Gordon added an RBI single one batter after Lowder to complete the scoring in the fifth. Watauga sent nine players to the plate against McDowell starter Joey Duncan and relief pitcher Tyler Hopkins during the inning.

“We started seeing the ball well,” Church said. “We knew we were going to catch on and hit it. It was just a matter of time because Jon was getting stronger every inning.”

Until that inning, Watauga trailed 1-0 in the first when McDowell scored an unearned run. The Pioneers took a 2-1 lead in the fourth when Gordon was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Chris Shelton drove in a run with a fielder’s choice that he barely beat out and thus avoided a double play.

Sharpe got off to a slow start, but Watauga’s defense helped contribute to that by making three errors in the first inning, two that allowed a run driven in by Tre Young. McDowell’s other run was driven in by Eli Miller in the top of the fifth, which tied the game 2-2.

Still, Sharpe settled down and scattered six hits and struck out nine, while walking just one.

“Jon was strong and started to hit his spots,” Church said. “Then the second and third time through the order, we picked up the ball well (while batting) and started to hit it hard.”

Duncan kept the Pioneers off balance with his curveball, but started to run out of steam in the fifth. He allowed five earned runs, seven hits and struck out one. Duncan also walked one.

“He has a very good curveball,” Lowder said. “You have to sit back and relax and we finally just jumped on him. Once we got on base, it’s on.”

“He gave us a lot of trouble,” Hardee said. “He can throw his curveball at any time and that’s what makes him tough. But we hung in there and did what we had to to get the win.”

Watauga has four conference games left, one each against A.C. Reynolds, East Burke, Freedom, and Alexander Central. The Pioneers also have a host of non-conference games going on in the next four days, including one at West Forsyth Saturday.

Watauga also plays James Ragsdale and South Central at the Olympic Development Stadium in Cary on Monday. Two more games at the Olympic stadium are pending Tuesday.

Watauga 6, McDowell 2
McDowell 100 010 0 — 2 6 1
Watauga 000 240 X — 6 9 3
Sharpe and Church. Duncan, Hopkins (5) and Rowe. W—Sharpe (5-1), L—Duncan (4-2). LOB—Watauga 7, McDowell 4. 2B—McDowell, Hopkins; Watauga, Lowder 2. HR—Watauga, Church. SB—McDowell, Miller; Watauga, B. Martin. CS—McDowell, O’Dear; Watauga, D. Martin. HBP—Watauga, Gordon (by Duncan). DP—McDowell 1, Watauga 1.