By Brian Pitts
Davie Enterprise Record

The Davie baseball team’s four-game week started with a monumental collapse, squandering a 5-0 lead in an 8-6 loss to Lake Norman.
But the War Eagles responded pretty well, beating Carson (6-0), A.C. Reynolds (5-2 in eight innings) and Mooresville (5-4) to push their overall record to 12-3. All four were nonconference games.
In the process, Mike Herndon became the winningest coach in Davie’s 56-year history.
Lake Norman 8, Davie 6
For five innings, visiting Lake Norman looked lost. It seemed totally overmatched against Ryan Foster.
Davie was leading 5-0 and Foster was pitching at a superior all-star level. He faced the minimum through five. The Wildcats had one hit to that point, but he was erased by catcher Will Beeson when he tried to steal second.
When Davie bumped a 2-0 lead to 5-0 in the fifth, it seemed all but over. After Corey Randall rifled a double off the wall in dead center, Matt Vernon uncorked his sixth homer of the season, the three-run shot easily soaring over the wall in left.
“Vernon hits the home run and they were trying to quit,” Herndon said. “They had taken their (starting) pitcher out and they were subbing. They had all but quit. We let them right back in it.”
Even though the Wildcats’ offense had been about as loud as a cat’s meow, and even though the No. 7 batter was leading off the sixth, it turned out the fat lady had not sung.
This is how Lake Norman’s eight-run explosion went down: walk, out, walk, walk, hit by pitch, RBI single, grand slam, dropped fly ball, strikeout, walk and RBI bunt hit.
The wildness was uncharacteristic of Foster, who was cruising toward a fourth complete game. He slipped to 4-2 after giving up eight runs – six earned – in 5 2/3.
When cleanup man Jack Edmiston hit the grand slam, the score went from 5-2 Davie to – poof – 6-5 Lake Norman …