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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

You couldn’t have predicted this. On April 11, the sky was falling on the Davie JV baseball team. It was 2-9 with an eight-game skid.

The War Eagles hit the reset button on April 12, and they won five straight games in a span of eight days.

“They are starting to play harder, play as a team and starting to figure things out,” varsity coach Joey Anderson said. “The pitching has been more consistent.”

Davie 11, Kann 10

The first game of a doubleheader at Kannapolis on April 17 was not a work of art. Davie only managed four hits. There were eight errors (three by Davie), 15 walks (Davie drew eight) and seven hit batsmen between the teams.

But Davie came away with a narrow win in a game that lasted five innings.

The War Eagles rolled up five runs in the top of the first inning.  (The only hit was a Kason Stewart double as Davie got help from two walks, two HBPs and an error.) But every time Davie seemed ready to knock Kannapolis out, the Wonders would fight back.

Davie’s 7-1 lead was chopped to 7-6 in the second. In the third, Davie scored four runs with help from five walks. It had a seemingly safe 11-6 lead, but Kannapolis came roaring back in its last at-bat.

But with the score 11-10 and runners at first and second, a groundball to shortstop Carson Queen finally ended the madness.

Hunter Potts (1-1, three walks, double), Queen (1-2), Stewart (1-3, two RBIs) and Hunter Daywalt (1-2, walk) had the Davie hits. It used five pitchers. The most effective were Ricky Plowman (1.1 innings, one hit, no runs) and closer Alexander Shinsky, who retired the only batter he faced to put the game away.

“If we are running them out there, it’s because we see potential,” assistant coach Joey Cress said of the pitchers. “We have some that are physically talented, some with superior work ethic, some with an intense competitive spirit. We will continue to develop their skills as they mature, and hopefully a few of them will put it all together and take it with them to the next level.”

Davie 15, Kann 0

While Davie had to hold on in game one, the second game was a three-inning laugher.

Nate Barr (2-2, four RBIs, double), Stewart (2-2, double) and Eli Webber (2-3, two RBIs, double) powered the offense as Davie scored at least three runs in each inning. Potts (1-1, walk), Queen (1-3) and Larson Stem (1-2, triple) had one hit each.

Meanwhile, Clarke Stem cruised on the mound. He held the Wonders to two hits, walked none and benefited from an error-free defensive performance. He faced the minimum because catcher Potts threw out two runners.

Davie 5, Oak Grove 3

Davie’s winning streak reached five on April 19 as it knocked off an Oak Grove team that came in with a 10-4 record.

The visiting Grizzlies scored three unearned runs in the first, but Davie scratched back. One of Daywalt’s team-high two hits plated Coston Colamarino in the second. Davie forced a tie in the fourth. With two outs, a Potts double made it 3-3.

“I would have told you two years ago that Hunter was one of the best lefthanded (bats) I saw coming out of middle school,” Anderson said. “I was really interested in watching him grow. He’s a catcher, so you’ve got Drew (Krause of the varsity) and Hunter coming through at the same time. I think both of them do a real good job behind the plate, and Hunter has been swinging it well.”

Davie (7-9 overall) generated a decisive surge in the fifth. L. Stem singled. With one out, he scored on a hit by Colamarino. After Stewart singled, Colamarino scored on an error.

“(Colamarino’s) kind of a surprise because he’s a beach volleyball guy, too,” Anderson said. “He travels on weekends. He showed up right before tryouts because he had a lot of volleyball going on. I said: ‘If you make this team, are you going to be dedicated?’ He said: ‘Yes, sir.’ He’s been playing hard. Yeah, it’s been interesting to watch him grow a little bit.”

After Daywalt walked one, struck out five and left after four with the score 3-3, C. Stem (two innings) and Shinsky (one inning) slammed the door. Shinsky fanned two of three batters in the seventh.

“We spread the love (on the mound) because we have a lot of guys who need to get work,” Anderson said. “(Shinsky) came to us as a backup catcher for Potts. One day he asked if he could step on the mound, and Cress has been working with him on different things.”

While Daywalt went 2-2, Davie got one hit from Potts (1-2, walk, double), L. Stem (1-3), Colamarino (1-2, walk), Stewart (1-3) and Webber (1-3).