Pioneers eye Titans

in NWC tournament
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

Watauga baseball coach Pete Hardee doesn’t mind the break his Pioneers will get Tuesday, while the rest of the Northwestern 4-A Conference is playing.

The day off gives the Watauga pitching staff a chance to rest for the NWC Tournament, which begins Thursday. The Pioneers (14-9 overall, 7-5 NWC), seeded third, host McDowell (7-15, 3-8) at Watauga’s field looking to advance into the semifinals, and then the finals. Both the semifinals and the finals are at M.S. Deal Stadium in Granite Falls.

Watauga has had mixed success with McDowell, having split with the Titans. Watauga won the first game at home, but lost 3-1 at McDowell.

Watauga will send Tyler Moore to the mound Thursday. The 6-foot-5 senior right-hander has a 4-4 record, but also has an ERA of 3.04.

Opponents are batting just .206 against Moore, who has 63 strikeouts and just 15 walks.

“We’ve got our pitching lined up the way we want it,” Hardee said. “That’s what’s nice about having an open date. We’ve got Tyler going against McDowell because he can bounce back if we need him later in the week.”

Should the Pioneers advance, they would throw Jon Sharpe (6-1, 2.78) in the semifinal and Ethan Moyer (2-2, 2.85) in the finals. Moyer would likely face powerful South Caldwell, but Moyer also pitched well in the Pioneers’ 1-0 loss to Providence Saturday. He allowed just two hits in five innings worked, but one of those hits was a solo home run.

But that is far down the road for the Pioneers, who beat and was beaten by every team in the conference — including South Caldwell — except Freedom, which they swept.

“We’re just excited about getting into the tournament,” Hardee said. “We have a chance to get a championship, which we haven’t done lately. We want to put that on the board and get the T-shirts and all that. It’s a challenge and we’re looking forward to it.”

They’ll likely face Jeremy Freeman, who controlled the Pioneers’ bats in McDowell’s win on April 15. Their lack of hitting in that game prompted a different approach to batting practice by the Pioneers that forced them to concentrate on hitting line drives and not hit the ball in the air.

The result was a 14-4 win over A.C. Reynolds in five innings the following Friday.

Leading the charge is catcher Adam Church, who is showing no signs of an injured thumb that kept him out of two games. Church is hitting .426 overall, .543 in NWC games. Overall, Church has hit five home runs, five doubles and has a slugging percentage of .726.

“He’s been swinging the bat really well,” Hardee said. “It’s nice to have a number three hitter who can hit with authority.”

Trey Dunnigan, who is hitting .328, leads the team in home runs with seven. Trey Lowder (.328), Baine Martin (.308) and Cal Hardee (.303) are also hitting over .300. The team is hitting .276.