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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

Although there’s no shame in losing to Alexander Central and West Forsyth, Davie varsity baseball coach Joey Anderson is tired of ending up on the wrong side of close games.
In late February, Central edged Davie 5-4 and 14-11, the latter when the War Eagles coughed up a four-run lead. Last week Davie’s frustration was compounded by a 3-2 loss at West Forsyth.
In the second game with West at home, the Titans just played better en route to a 7-4 decision.
“Right now we’re just on the losing side of some pretty good games,” Anderson said after Davie fell to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in the CPC. “We’re competing right down to the last inning. Unfortunately, our record does not show how well we’ve been playing.”
West Forsyth 3, Davie 2
Davie pitchers Tucker Hobbs and Colin Harrison delivered a valiant effort in the CPC opener in Clemmons on March 4. Hobbs did not allow an earned run in five innings, and Harrison struck out two of three batters in a perfect inning.
Both teams finished with five hits, but West came away victorious as its two arms combined for 14 strikeouts.
“We played a very good game,” Anderson said. “We just made a couple of unfortunate errors, which were hard plays to make.”
In the bottom of the second, West used two walks, an error and a single to take a 3-0 lead.
Davie fought back in the fourth. After Coy James led off with a single, Anderson dialed up the small ball. Hayden Potts dropped a bunt on the first-base side and beat it out for a hit. Hunter Potts laid down a bunt hit along the third-base line to load the bases. On a fullcount pitch, Drew Krause got Davie on the board with a hit. Then Kason Stewart lifted a sac fly to cut West’s lead to 3-2.
“(West pitcher Greyson Jones) had his rhythm going, so I changed up my game plan and decided I wanted to get him off the mound and make him move a little bit,” Anderson said.
With runners at second and third and one out, Davie had a prime opportunity for more in the fourth. But Jones demonstrated damage control and stranded both guys to preserve the lead.
As it turned out, that was all she wrote for Davie’s offense. Jones, a junior, piled up 12 Ks in six innings, and West senior reliever Parker Trexler fanned two in the seventh.
“(Jones has) got a pretty good slider,” Anderson said. “He uses that slider quite a bit. He pitched against us two years ago in the conference tournament. He didn’t have that kind of velo, but he had that slider at that point in time, and that’s what he basically threw the whole game.”
Davie’s hits were spread out among James (1-3, walk), Hayden Potts (1-4), Hunter Potts (1-3), Krause (1-2, walk) and Logan Allen (1-3).
West 7, Davie 4
A five-run barrage in the top of the second all but sealed Davie’s fate against the visiting Titans on March 7. West did the damage on four hits, a walk and a hit batsman.
The outcome was never in question as Davie scored half its runs in the seventh.
“We’re playing with a little bit of nerves,” Anderson said. “It’s like we’re playing not to lose instead of to win. Those are things that we’re working through. This is a very good team. We’ve made some mistakes pitching. We’ve made some mistakes at the plate. And we’ve made some mistakes on the defensive side. If we fix those things, we’re going to start winning some ballgames.”
Davie wasted a 12-hit night. James had a casual three hits, three runs, a double and a walk. The home team got a jolt from Hunter Potts, who went 3 for 4 with three RBIs to raise his average from .153 to .294. Krause and Stewart both went 2-4 as Davie dropped its fifth straight in the series despite outhitting West.
Davie is hitting .304 as a team, led by James’ sparkling .733 mark. He’s 11 for 15 with 10 runs, seven extra-base knocks (four doubles, two triples, homer), five RBIs and five walks. Krause is hitting .470 (8-17) and Stewart .333 (5-15).
“We are swinging the bats well,” he said. “The biggest thing right now is we’re just not putting them together. We are leaving too many people on base. We’ve got some guys that would be in the lineup, but they’re not due to injuries.
“Coy is on fire and Hunter is starting to gear back up (after hitting .428 last year). Drew is hitting the ball really well. Hayden is hitting the ball, but they’ve been right at people.”
The War Eagles will try to escape the tailspin this week with two games against Lake Norman. The one on March 13 will be a Throwback Game at Rich Park, which was their home from 1957-2017. The JV/varsity doubleheader will mark Davie’s first game at Mando Field in eight years.
“We’re going to keep plugging,” Anderson said. “I feel like we can compete with anybody, we’ve just got to put it all together.”