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MOCKSVILLE — If you showed up 15 minutes late for this one, you missed the excitement.
Mocksville’s easy 9-2 American Legion win over South Rowan at Mando Field on Wednesday night was pretty much settled by a six-spot in the bottom of the first inning.
South starter Jeremy Teague couldn’t get his curveball over and couldn’t get his fastball down, and Mocksville’s talented lineup, which includes at least three big-time college signees — Drew Ridenhour (Western Carolina), Steve LeFaivre (Wake Forest) and Chris Brake (UNCC) — enjoyed a merry feast.
Teague faced eight batters. He walked two, hit one and surrendered four solid rips, including a triple by LeFaivre.
“We spotted them six and you can’t do that with any team in this league,” said South coach Allen Wilson. “The base hits I could live with, because Mocksville has good players. But you can’t hit ‘em and you can’t walk ‘em. That’s what got Jeremy in trouble.”
It looked in that first inning as if South might wind up on the short end of a 50-0 debacle. But Wilson handed the ball to Jonathan Brooks, who not only got his team out of that first-inning mess, but gave South at least a fleeting chance to make a game of it.
South (4-8) picked up one run in the third on a walk, a hit batsman and singles by Greg Deal and Ronnie Shore, but Mocksville pitcher Cody Wright struck out Ryan Schenk with the bases full to end the inning.
Then South loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth on Adam Cornelius’ bunt single, an error and a walk. But it plated only one run — on a bouncer by Jeremy Alderman. Wright struck out Craig Haas and got Derick Efird on an inning-ending fly ball.
“I thought we might have their kid pitcher a little shook up that inning,” said Wilson. “But he did a great job to get out of it.”
“I just bore down. I stopped trying to strike out everybody and let my defense help me,” said Wright, a rising junior at Davie County High.
Wright, a right-hander, certainly had the right stuff. South didn’t get a hit after Cornelius’ perfect bunt toward third base in the fourth. Wright was never in a jam over the last five frames, finishing with a three-hit gem and eight Ks.
“That’s two straight complete games for Cody,” said Mocksville coach Mike Lovelace. “That’s rare for a 16-year-old kid in Legion ball. You know, when we get pitching and defense, we’re a pretty good club. We’ve swung the bats OKfor the most part.”
Wilson didn’t mind giving Wright part of the credit for his team’s lackluster hitting — but not all of it.
“Somehow, we’ve gotta put more balls in play,” he said. “We’ve got to cut down on all these strikeouts.”
This game was a far cry from the first meeting of the teams in Landis. In that one, lefty Drew Callicutt hurled South to a 5-0 win over a Mocksville team that was missing LeFaivre and Brake.
“I still don’t think that first game was a fluke,” said Lovelace. “South has a real good team and lefties have given us fits all year. (Mocksville’s lineup has an unusual abundance of lefties). The right-hander they pitched tonight looked like he was ready to compete, but we hit him.”
“I knew we would come to play because South beat us so bad that first time,” said Wright. “I thought we were ready and then when we got six runs I knew we were.”
Lovelace agreed that for the most part his team “laid back a little” and lost some intensity after that first-inning flurry, but someone forgot to tell Matt Dellacona to take it easy. The West Forsyth High product drove in all of Mocksville’s runs after the first, singling in teammates in the fourth, sixth and eighth.
Mocksville’s Andrew Daywalt, who was twice hit by pitches, scored three runs and swiped three bases. Ridenhour had two hits, while Brake had two RBIs.
It was probably the lowest point for South since a early 10-run rule wipeout at Stanly. Most of the summer, South’s been in the hunt. In this one, you never got the feeling it could put any real pressure on Wright or Mocksville (8-4).
“It was a strange one,” said Wilson. “I checked on Teague in the bullpen prior to the game and he looked like he was throwing great. But that’s baseball.”
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NOTES:It didn’t help South that its only consistent source of power, Callicutt, was taken out of the game after failing to go 100 percent on a grounder in the second. “It was a tough way to prove a point,” said Wilson, “but you can’t let it go. Drew will learn from it. You have to respect the game.” ... Callicutt would have been up with the bases loaded in the third. ... Lovelace had a similar conversation with the talented LeFaivre, who called it a night in the fifth. ... South plays a non-league game tonight at home against Asheboro. ... Lovelace said Mocksville’s game Friday at Rowan was “a big challenge.” Rowan crushed Mocksville 18-6 at Mando. ... Wilson said the biggest positive besides Brooks was youngster Stephen Ashby, who looked good on the hill in the eighth. ... Brake is such a good receiver that Ridenhour, Davie High’s catcher, is seeing time at third base.
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