Pioneers play young,

tough East Forsyth
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

Pete Hardee has a message for his Watauga baseball team: Don’t let the age level of East Forsyth create any false sense of security.

Though the Eagles have a freshman who leads off, and has four sophomores in their starting lineup, they will be as formidable as any team Watauga has played this year. Tuesday night at 7, East Forsyth hosts Watauga in the second round of the state 4-A playoffs.

Watauga had no trouble getting through its first-round game with Garinger. The Pioneers scored 12 runs in the third inning and pulled away to beat the Wildcats 14-0 in five innings.

It’s unlikely that will happen Tuesday. East Forsyth won the Metro Conference championship with a 20-5 record, though the Eagles lost the conference tournament finals.

The pitcher of that game, Shane Dickerson, is who Hardee thinks will pitch Tuesday. Dickerson, a sophomore, has a 3-1 record. Staff ace is Ryan Dull pitched the Eagles to a 7-3 win over Fayetteville Douglas Byrd in the first round of the playoffs.

“All of the rest of their pitchers are pretty decent,” Hardee said. “They throw around 82-to-84 miles per hour and they can throw good curveballs.”

Watauga (17-10), will counter with Tyler Moore, who has been known to throw a pretty good curveball himself. Moore is 6-4 this year, but that is misleading since he has also pitched against the better teams on Watauga’s schedule this year.

Moore is the only pitcher to beat No. 1 ranked South Caldwell, holding the Spartans to one hit in a 1-0 victory. He has allowed just two hits in his last 12 innings work, which includes no hits and three strikeouts during his inning against Garinger last Friday.

“I think Tyler is fitted for (East Forsyth) because they like the fastball,” Hardee said. “Hopefully Tyler can keep them off-balance.”

Moore will face an outstanding lead-off batter in freshman second baseman Luke Dunlap, and a good left-handed power hitter in catcher Rob Schwab.

Dull also hits third in the lineup and can hit the ball deep.

Hardee said the Eagles remind him of East Burke, a team Watauga beat late in the regular season and again in the Northwestern 4-A Conference Tournament semifinals.

“It’s going to be a challenge for us,” Hardee said. “It will take a good effort to get the job done.”