Hazlip fans 12 in debut
Published 11:25 am Thursday, March 12, 2020
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Bayden Hazlip of Davie’s JV baseball team pitched a one-hitter over six innings and struck out 12 in his Davie debut.
Holy mackerel.
“Man, he was lights out,” coach Joey Anderson said after the sophomore transfer from West Forsyth threw 97 pitches and freshman Parker Aderhold stroked two hits for the second game in a row to help Davie blank Mooresville 4-0.
Davie opened with a hard-fought 7-5 home loss to Carson on March 2. It was a wild, back-and-forth game. Davie trailed 3-0 before rallying to 3-3. Carson went up 4-3 in the fourth and Davie answered in the fifth. It was 4-4 after six.
Aderhold had two hits in his first game in a Davie uniform. Anderson said Trot Byerly “had a big bunt to help us get three runs.”
Two days later, Davie and visiting Mooresville waged a pitchers’ duel for over half the game. It was 0-0 through four and a half innings.
Davie’s offensive finally broke through in the fifth, scoring all four of the game’s runs in one at-bat.
The War Eagles had to scrap for the victory despite outhitting the Blue Devils 11-1. Aderhold, Justin Hayes (two doubles) and Connor Keaton rapped two hits each. Wesley Mason, Byerly and Vance Visser, who delivered a two-run base knock in the big fifth, had one apiece.
“We beat a really good team,” Anderson said. “They were very well coached. Mooresville played well.”
Anderson lavished praise on Hazlip, who was masterful for six innings.
“It was fastball and changeup and he just kept rolling,” he said. “The one hit he gave up was a little dribbler between short and third. We considered varsity for him, but to pitch at the varsity level we want him to gain that third pitch. He has dynamite stuff, especially when his changeup is on. He was spotting the changeup up right and left today. We’re tying to develop that third pitch and we haven’t gotten to that point yet. He’s got a varsity-caliber arm.”
Freshman Davin Whitaker relieved and did well in his Davie debut, pitching a hitless seventh as he worked around a walk.