Young powers McDowell

past Watauga
By Steve Behr
 
MARION — McDowell’s Trey Young demonstrated to Watauga what a designated hitter is supposed to do — hit the ball.

Young belted a three-run home run and added an RBI single two innings later to lift McDowell to a 5-4 victory over the visiting Pioneers Monday night. The sophomore went 2-for-3 and ended up being a one-man wrecking crew for the Titans (6-1, 2-0 NWC), who took over first place in the Northwestern 4-A Conference for the first time since 2002.

Young did most of his damage in the third inning with a three-run homer in the third inning off Watauga pitcher Jon Sharpe. Just one batter earlier, Jared Hollifield drove in a run with a single, which allowed Young’s home run to give the Titans a 4-1 lead.

“It was a good baseball game, no doubt,” Watauga coach Pete Hardee said. “Sometimes you make a few mistakes and you lose a game, but tonight we just got beat. They just outplayed us.”

It was a rare mistake for Sharpe (1-1), who scattered six hits, struck out 11 and walked four. Young collected his second hit in the fifth inning when he delivered an RBI single to answer a Watauga run scored earlier in the inning and give the Titans a 5-3 lead.

Watauga (3-2, 1-1) collected nine hits off McDowell starter Joey Duncan (3-0), but rarely came up with the key hit to drive in runs. The Pioneers left 11 runners on base, eight of them in scoring position.

Duncan struck out eight Pioneers, but walked three and hit two batters in a row in the second inning.

However, neither of the runners, Matt Phillips or Phil Gordon, scored a run.

“I was worried early when we didn’t capitalize on our opportunities,” Hardee said. “(Duncan) hit two batters straight and we had first and second with no outs and we couldn’t get anything out of it. Any time you leave runners in scoring position against a team that is young and ready to try to assume a high ranking in the conference, you give them confidence that they are in the game and you give them a chance to take advantage of it.”

David Martin had two of Watauga’s hits, including a strange fourth-inning, inside-the-park home run by hitting a ball that originally ended up being lodged under the centerfield fence. McDowell centerfielder Colby Brown put his hands over his head to signify a dead ball, but then picked the ball out of underneath the fence, which kept it live.

Martin, who was at second base at the time, took off for third and was able to beat the throw home to score a run. Martin’s hit led the inning off and pulled the Pioneers to within 4-2. Watauga put two more runners on base, but it would be the only run the Pioneers would score in the inning.

The Pioneers, who scored in the first inning on an RBI single by Trey Lowder, added a fifth-inning run on a Phillips RBI single. In the sixth inning, with McDowell up 5-3, Watauga pulled to within one run when Baine Martin scored on an Adam Church fielder’s choice.

Watauga had a chance to score a run in the seventh inning by putting two runners on base with no outs, but a sacrifice bunt backfired causing a force play, and then McDowell ended the game by turning a double play.
Cal Hardee and Phillips each had two hits for the Pioneers, who play at West Wilkes Wednesday and at home against A.C. Reynolds Friday.

“We’ve just got to bounce back (Wednesday),” Pete Hardee said. “We’ve got West Wilkes when we get back on the field and we’ve got to get ready for our next conference game.”

McDowell 5, Watauga 4
Watauga 100 111 0 — 4 9 0
McDowell 004 010 X — 5 6 2
Sharpe and Church. Duncan, Miller (7) and Rowe. W—Duncan (3-0), L—Sharpe (1-1). LOB—Watauga 11, McDowell 4. 2B—Watauga, Church. HR—Watauga, D. Martin (2); McDowell, Young. HBP—Watauga, Phillips (by Duncan), Gordon (by Phillips).