James homers; Davie sweeps Tabor

Published 1:44 pm Tuesday, March 26, 2024

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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

Davie’s varsity baseball team had no trouble dispatching Mt. Tabor in a pair of meetings last week.

No shock there. The winless Spartans are a rebuilding program under second-year coach Andrew Jones, who graduated from Davie in 2000. They’re 0-7 in 2024, they’re 5-23 over the 2023-24 seasons and they’ve lost eight straight to the War Eagles, who improved to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the Central Piedmont Conference.

The first game was held at Tabor on March 19. Drew Krause and Hunter Potts produced two hits each, Coy James blasted his team’s first home run of the season and Davie rolled 11-5 even though Tabor outhit Davie 12-8. (That Tabor advantage was undone by six errors.)

James came up to bat for the second time in the top of the second. In one swing, it went from 1-0 to 5-0 as James launched a grand slam.

The lead grew to 8-0 in the third and Davie looked poised for a run-rule cruise. But Tabor, which racked up 12 hits against four arms, scratched out runs in the third, fifth and sixth to go the distance with Davie.

Krause (2-3) and Potts (2-4) were responsible for half of Davie’s eight hits. James went 1-3 with three runs and two walks. Davie got one hit from Carson Queen (1-2, two walks, triple), Cooper Bliss (1-4, two RBIs) and Craig McBride (1-2, double).

Connor Berg (three innings, two unearned runs), Bliss (two innings), Parker Davis (one scoreless inning) and Cole Whitaker (one scoreless inning) shared the mound duties.

Two nights later at Davie, the War Eagles pushed runs across in five of six at-bats and handled Tabor 10-2.

James (2-3), Krause (2-3) and Coston Colamarino (2-3) had the most success at the plate as Davie doubled Tabor in the hitting category, 10-5. Getting one hit were Queen (1-3, two RBIs), Bliss (1-4), Kason Stewart (1-2, double) and Potts (1-4).

Other than issuing five walks, Braeden Rodgers dominated on the mound, giving up one run and three hits in five innings and fanning eight. Tucker Hobbs and Whitaker worked one inning each.

All in all, coach Joey Anderson saw positive developments from his boys.

“I saw some things that show me we’re going in the right direction,” Anderson said. “Guys that we need production out of swung the bats batter. Hunter Potts had two pretty good games, and I’m going to need him to swing the bat. Coy looked like he is starting to get comfortable, and he hit some (at Davie on Thursday) that went foul that almost went into the concession stand. You can tell he’s starting to dial in. And if he’s going, there’s gonna be a lot to follow him. Drew had a big hit (at Davie). He inside-outed one and went the opposite way. Tucker Hobbs had a great sixth inning (at Davie). I’m happy so far with where we’re at.”

Notes: James’ batting average is up to .440. … Davie made one error in two games. … Tabor made 10 errors and handed Davie 19 walks/hit by pitches.