CARY — Watauga’s baseball team is finding out that there are some pretty good pitchers who play outside of the Northwestern 4-A Conference.

The Pioneers found scoring runs difficult in its two games in the IMPACT Classic Monday. Watauga allowed five runs in the top half of the seventh inning to fall 7-2 to Jamestown Ragsdale in the Pioneers’ first game, and then beat South Central 1-0 in their second game.

Offensively, Watauga (11-4) needed just an RBI fielder’s choice by Austin Story to drive in an unearned run to beat South Central. Chris Shelton had singled up the middle, stole second and reached third on a throwing error.

Scoring runs was nearly as difficult against Ragsdale, ranked third in the state in the IMPACT 3-A poll. Then again, the Pioneers faced Nick McBride, who has a fastball that has been clocked at 94 miles per hour and is headed to North Carolina next spring.

Adam Church drove in a run in the sixth inning with a single and Baine Martin added an RBI single in the seventh for the Pioneers, who play Southwest Guilford at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday.

“We battled them pretty well,” Watauga coach Pete Hardee said. “That kid has the best fastball we’ve seen.”

Watauga finished with four hits against South Central and five against Ragsdale. Shelton, Church, Martin and Kyle Miller had singles against South Central, while Martin, Cal Hardee, Church, David Martin and Phil Gordon all had hits against Ragsdale. David Martin’s hit was a double.

“David Martin is swinging the bat well,” Pete Hardee said. “His double made it to the warning track and he hit one out that went foul down the first baseline. It’s a good poke to get one out of here because it’s 330 feet down the line. It’s nice to see his bat come alive for us.”

Watauga was able to beat South Central with scoreless pitching from Jake Wallace and Jon Sharpe. Wallace went six innings, giving up just five hits — all singles — and by striking out three.

“He pitched really well,” Hardee said. “He was spotting the ball well. He was hitting the corners well and he was able to control his curveball. He had six strong innings.”

Sharpe came on in the seventh with one runner on base, allowed one walk and struck out one in picking up the save.

Cal Hardee had limited Ragsdale to just two runs heading into the seventh inning before the Tigers exploded for five runs. Will Littlejohn pitched the final out of the inning, but Watauga found itself down 7-1 going into the bottom half of the inning.

“We were only down 2-1 before they broke it open on us,” Pete Hardee said.

Of the seven runs scored off Hardee, only three were earned. McBride and Mike Whitehead each went 3-for-4 for the Tigers. Kyle Bradenbury and Billy Steun each had two hits for Ragsdale.

Ragsdale 7, Watauga 2
Ragsdale 200 000 5 — 7 12 2
Watauga 000 001 1 — 2 5 2
McBride, Bradenbury (7) and Sparks. Hardee, Littlejohn (7) and Church. W–McBride (3-0), L—Hardee (3-1). LOB—Ragsdale 11, Watauga 7. 2B—Ragsdale, Bradenbury, Stune; Watauga, D. Martin. SH—Ragsdale, Bright. SB—Ragsdale, Bradenbury 2, Anderson, Andrejau, McBride; Watauga, Gordon. CS—Ragsdale, Fulte. HBP—Ragsdale, Bradenbury (by Hardee).

Watauga 1, South Central 0
South Central 000 000 0 — 0 5 2
Watauga 000 010 X — 1 4 0
Longton and BoLam. Wallace, Sharpe (7) and Church. W-Wallace (1-2), L—Longon. LOB—South Central 6, Watauga 4. SH—South Central, Jordan. SB—South Central, Puglisi, BoLan, Greuler; Watauga, Church. CS—Puglisi. HBP—Watauga, Miller (by Longton). DP—South Central 2.