Area IV playoff scores 7-8 thru 7-13

Game 2 final

Cherryville 18
Union Cty. 1

 

GBraves sweep Hickory

The Gaston Braves beat Hickory 11-10 last night to sweep their best of five series 3-0.

The Braves await the winner of the Caldwell Co. vs. Mint Hill series.

 

So just to catch everyone up:

Cherryville is now up 2-0 on Union Co. after defeating them 18-1 last night. Cherryville is notorious for strapping on the hitting shoes come playoff time. Is game three going to be at Wingate or at Post 100?

Caldwell Co. has taken a 2-1 lead on Mint Hill with their second consecutive 11-1 victory. Game four is at Butler High School tonight.

The Gaston Braves came back to eliminate defending Area IV runner-up in Hickory last night 11-10. Hickory when they wanted to, could hammer the baseball.

Shelby and Huntersville is going to be the eye opener. Huntersville is loaded and didnt play any out of division games because Hough went as far as they did. Shelby is the definition of scrappy. They will lull you to sleep and after a few bleeders though the infield, drop a bomb on you. They are going to be a difficult out moving forward as well. Game three is at Hough HS tonight, correct?

Its a great time to be an American Legion fan because all these teams are pretty evenly matched. Here moving forward its going to be who makes mistakes and limits damage. So I was at receiving last night but from what I understand, there was a great crowd that braved the at times heavy rain at Caldwell last night. Hats off to the Mint Hill who came up and the Caldwell fans for sitting through it all. Just another example why American Legion baseball is the best thing going today.

 

Hickory Post 48

Shocker to me that Gaston Braves swept Hickory in three. Don't know much about Gaston Braves but I thought Hickory was a favorite in the playoffs.

Carolina Man

 

Game Three for Cherryville and Union is at Cherryville tonight.

 

Gaston Braves

Down South- you are right in that Hickory can hammer the ball when they want to. This was evident when they knocked Braves Ace Logan Walden out in the 2nd inning of game 1 and again in game 3. For those of you who may not know, Logan was the ace of this years South Point HS team which went 21-2 and was upset in the first round of the playoffs. He was their #2 pitcher on last years 3A state championship team. He throws hard (90+) and has a great record over the last two years of HS and Legion (something around 22-2).

As you can probably tell, I am a big Gaston Braves fan and have attended most of their playoff games so far. Here is a quick summary of the team:

• Draw players primarily from South Point and East Gaston HS's. SP won the 3A State Championship last year and was a favorite this year too. EG always has a respectable team and won a first round playoff game this year.
• They have 5 college kids on their team- Zech Wiggs-5 hole hitter (CVCC), Bradley Edwards (CVCC #2 pitcher), Logan Armstrong-4 hole hitter with 4 or 5 HR's in playoffs , and Spencer Wiles RF (Hampton-Sydney) and Brandon Bates (EG won game #1 vs. Hickory).
• Key Starters from EG- Jarky Hopkins (CF, fast and hit over .400), and SS Justin Williams (Jr. #3 hole hitter with some pop)
• Key Starters from SP- Aaron Biggerstaff (2nd base .300 hitter), Derek Perry (3rd base, Soph. great young hitter), Patrick Horne (C, tough, good arm-QB on football team), Dustin Wiles (RF and leadoff man, solid OF and a tough out
• Coached by Belmont Abbey College asst. Kyle Geswein
• Think they had something like 7 or 8 guys hit over .300 this legion season. Walden has a 6-0 record
• Seem to have hit their stride lately going 6-0 in the playoffs so far (Henderson Co & Hickory).

Hope that helps.

 

Mint Hill 7 Caldwell Co. 6

Mint Hill gets up off the mat to send this series to game five tomorrow at CC. Another great game as CC rallied in the top of the ninth to come up just short.

 

Game 4 final

Cherryville 14
Union Cty. 8

Cherryville wins series 3 - 1

 

Game 5
Caldwell 3
Mint Hill 1

Caldwell wins series 3-2

 

Caldwell Co. 3 Mint Hill 1

Game 5 and series goes to Caldwell Co. in a 3-1 victory at MS Deal in Granite Falls. Good game, great series. Green gets complete game win.
Eisenbath takes the loss (7IP). Mint Hill season completed going 19-10.
See ya'll next year. Good luck to all the Legion boys playing college ball as freshman. This year was a blast.