North Davidson vs South Caldwell- Game 1

WHAT A GAME. Both teams played their hearts out. Fans for both sides were loud and proud for their respective teams. Should be a good one Friday night. GO SPARTANS.

 

Looking at it from ND's perspective...

They could pitch White tomorrow, and they could still very well lose

But lets just say, hypothetically, that White pitched tomorrow at home against Brown, and North Davidson got the win. What does this do?

It leaves North Davidson's #3 pitcher, to be left to pitch game 3, AT south caldwell, against madison bumgarner.

In my opinion North Davidson has to view this in terms of their best chance to win 2 straight games. Their best chance to win two straight is to send their #3 guy out there against Brown, and then have White against Bumgarner if needed.

Winning one game and then having nothing left in the tank leaves North Davidson helpless.

I know this will get the "you have to win game 2 before there is even a game 3" response, but at this point, North Davidson losing in game 2 and losing in game 3 is the same result; the end of the season

The only chance they have to win game 3 against Bumgarner is if White is still available

 

As moose has been asking, who is ND's #3 pitcher?

 

I dont know who North Davidson's #3 pitcher is.

Also, my last post wasnt meant to be disrespectful to whoever that young man is.

It'd be a tall task for anyone to win against South Caldwell in game 3 of the state-semifinals on the road against madison bumgarner. Zack White would more than likely lose in this situation too, but he's a bonafide ace for this team and he'd be their best shot to beat Bumgarner

I do know that only 2 pitchers have thrown for North Davidson the entire playoffs. Watson, and White.

 

If ND goes with their no. 3 pitcher tomarrow I think they are done. Brown is a very capable pitcher and if he gets off to a good start can be tough. ND hits well but I don't think they will beat SC in a hitting contest. Unless ND has a very good 3 pitcher I think Brown will beat them. I can see both sides of the argument but you have to win game 2 to get to game 3. Then again it dies no good to win game 2 if you can't win game 3. That is why tonights game was so big. Right now the series is SC's to win or lose. I don't think any of ND's pitchers can beat Bumgarner

 

Congratulations to South Caldwell

South Caldwell has that bulldog attitude...Congratulations on game 1 win

Carolina man

 

North actually has a solid stable of backup pitchers, but they're not really big game tested. I'm showing my age right now, but I can't remember the first name of the Glover kid who got beat 1-0 by Wautaga. Don't chalk this series up just yet.

I concede that SC is clearly the better team on paper, but tonight our left fielder lost a line drive in the sun (2 runs scored after that). And a bad hop grounder to short opened the door for run #3. Let me add: SC had many other chances to break the game open but didn't. What might have been....

One last thought: the crowd was loud tonight, but I was pleased that it stayed civil both ways. I observed a couple of SC vs Cherryville & Shelby Legion games. Holy smokes...it got personal fast & furious. Great atmosphere tonight & fun to the bitter end.

 

First name is Ryan. Very talented young man.

 

Winston Salem Journal

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/S...id=1173351341691&path=!sports&s=1037645509200

Cardinals grab 3-2 win
Messer's arm, Stanbury's bat too much for Black Knights

Jimmy Messer pitched a complete game and Joe Stanbury knocked in the winning run in the eighth inning to lead South Caldwell to a 4-3 comeback victory over North Davidson yesterday. The win for South Caldwell came in the first game of the NCHSAA Class 4-A Western Regional Finals.

Messer had 12 strikeouts, gave up five hits and three walks as he improved to 14-0 on the season.

“Hat’s off to Jimmy Messer, he was absolutely filthy tonight - he’s got really good stuff,” Coach Mike Meadows of North Davidson said.

Messer credited his teammates for helping him get through a fifth-inning jam, and then calming him down to shut down North down the stretch. “You gotta be tough, but everyone in the dugout kept supporting me and kept our hopes up,” he said, “and then I knew I had to go out there and do my job so that they could all do their jobs and win the game.”

North led 3-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, but South rallied to send the game into extra innings. Bumgarner drew a four-pitch walk to lead off the inning. After Brad Chavis struck out swinging, Daniel Coffey hit a single to center that moved Bumgarner to second, where he was replaced by pinch-runner Derek Laws.

Brad Craig walked to load the bases, and Shane Clowen hit a sacrifice fly to center field. Laws tagged up, but the Black Knight relay to home got past catcher Ben Redmond, allowing Laws to score.

In the top of the eighth, Messer struck out Jay Yount and Redmond, and then got pinch-hitter Matt Nifong to ground out.

In the bottom of the eighth, pinch-hitter Brett Parham struck out looking, and Josh Shehan followed with a slow grounder to third. However, the ball bounced off Luke Wilhelm’s glove and allowed Shehan to reach safely.
On the next pitch, Josh Severt bunted to third, and Wilhelm’s throw to first missed and ended in right field, advancing Shehan to third and Severt to second.

Stanbury, hitting for Madison Bumgarner, then hit an 0-1 fastball over Wilhelm’s head to knock in Shehan for the winning run. “Joe said he would get it done, and he did. This is the second time in a week he’s had a clutch hit for us,” Coach Jeff Parham of South Caldwell said.

South Caldwell scored first in the bottom of the first inning. Severt grounded out to start the inning, but Bumgarner hit a single into left field and advanced to second when Trey Briggs misplayed the ball. Chavis followed with a double to right to score Bumgarner. After Clay Watson got David Coffey to fly out harmlessly to left, Brad Craig hit a single up the middle to score Chavis and give South a 2-0 lead.

North Davidson got one run back in the top of the third, when Levi Michael hit a solo home run to left-center to make the score 2-1.

The Black Knights scored in the top of the fifth. Briggs led off the inning with a walk, and then Michael followed with a ground-rule double to left to advance Briggs to third. Wilhelm followed with a soft liner to second for an out and Daniel Kassouf hit a soft grounder to third, but Coffey’s throw home sailed over the head of catcher Charles LeProvost and allowed Briggs to score.

Zach White then laid down a hard bunt single in between Coffey and Messer that scored Michael and gave North a 3-2 lead.

Clay Watson pitched a complete game for the Black Knights, allowing 10 hits and two walks with six strikeouts. “Clay pitched his butt off, I knew it was his game to get, and he did all he could,” Meadows said.

South Caldwell improved to 28-2 on the season, while North Davidson fell to 23-8. The best-of-three series continues tonight at 7 at North Davidson.

North Davidson 001 020 00 - 3 5 6
South Caldwell 200 000 11 - 4 10 1
Watson and Redmond. Messer and LeProvost. WP - Messer (!4-0). LP - Watson. 2B - ND: Michael, SC: Chavis. HR - ND: Michael. Records - North Davidson 23-8, South Caldwell 28-2. Leading hitters -ND: Michael 2-4, 2 runs, RBI; SC: Bumgarner 2-3, run; Chavis 3-4, RBI.

 

I want to add a comment because I think that too little is being said by everyone about Clay Watson's effort last night. Everyone knows about Madison Bumgarner, Jimmy Messer & Zach White. But it's a crime to forget what a gritty, gutty kid Watson is.

I've watched him since his Freshman year when Clay was in Lexington Post 8's rotatition when they finished 2nd in the State. Physically he wasn't imposing...but the Kid wanted the ball. He seemed oblivious to the doubt that us fans had about his ability. I realized I was selling him short when he took the ball against a super-talented Winston team (loaded with D1 & D2 talent) & shut them down. I knew then that this kid had a lion hiding inside his heart.

My respect for Clay continues to swell. He doesn't light up the gun (low 80's). But he's like Greg Maddux...at the end of each game, you look at your linescore & realize that nobody laid a glove on him. Clay has a good breaking ball, changes speeds, & hits his spots...especially at "the big moment". He rarely walks people & gets the big ground ball when you need it.

When you measure last night's effort, don't forget that Clay had to throw 2 innings Tuesday evening in relief of Zach White. In that game, he came in & cleaned up an 8th inning mess that appeared to be the end for ND's season. My college baseball playing son came home & said: "Don't ever doubt Clay. He's got beach ball sized _____." (Fill in the blank)!

He may be a Junior, but Clay's been through the wars enough to convince me that he'll make someone a fine pitcher at the next level.