With Michael Blount concentrating on pitching and playing the outfield, Sexton doesn’t have an experienced catcher. That lack of a veteran receiver was painfully apparent Tuesday afternoon in a 10-6 loss to 4A Central Piedmont Conference contender Davie County at Mando Field. Mike Herndon’s War Eagles (2-0) spent most of the day jogging around the bases thanks to a not-so-grand total of 14 passed balls and wild pitches by various Hornet batteries.

“We came out here with the idea of trying to run,” said Herndon. “But heck, we didn’t have to.”

“It’s early and we’re obviously still working out the kinks,” said Sexton. “We realize we’re not a complete team until we get the catching situation resolved.”

Sexton employed Marlow Rary and Adam Taylor (who made a great grab in the outfield before moving in to catch) behind the dish. He indicated that youngster Adam Haynes will get a chance with the mitt in Salisbury’s next contest.

Other than the catching adventures, the Hornets were OK.

Blount pitched four innings, and while his stats weren’t impressive, it was obvious that his ball was moving, since every fourth pitch was going back to the screen.

“Michael’s got a live arm, no doubt about that,” said Sexton.

Blount also cracked a vicious RBI-double down the right-field line in the first inning to give Salisbury (0-2) an early lead.

And there were plenty of other positives.

Cole Grams drove a two-run double off the center-field fence in the sixth. Jason Wallace and Justin West also had doubles, while Daniel Wallace went 2-for-2. Boo Blount had one costly error at short, but also saved his team several runs with his glove. Justin Spears pitched two strong innings of relief.

“We had a lot of kids who had good days,” said Sexton. “I was pleased. We looked more aggressive than in our first game last Friday (a 4-3 loss at Concord).”

The game was also a mixed bag for Herndon.

He liked the way his team hit the ball — Davie has scored 21 runs in its first two games — but he didn’t like the way his team failed to put the Hornets down for the count when it had a 10-2 lead after four innings.

“We were rolling for awhile and then I think we put it in cruise,” said Herndon. “We’ve gotta get used to putting people away when we get ahead, because it looks like we’re gonna be in some slugfests.”

The Hornets kept pecking away, scoring three times in the sixth. Then they got another run in the seventh, forcing Herndon to use his third pitcher of the day — veteran Ross Smith — to get the final outs.

Davie had only one extra-base hit — Andrew Daywalt’s run-scoring double in the second — but kept up a steady attack with singles and walks. Bradley Willard had two hits and scored three times from the leadoff spot, while Dave Poplin and starting pitcher Travis Allen poked two-run singles. Thadd Johnson contributed a timely sacrifice and a sacrifice fly.

The game’s key moment likely came in the top of the first. Salisbury had one run in and two runners on base with one out. But then Allen struck out Taylor and picked Jimmy Haynes off first base to escape disaster.

Davie came right back for three in its half of the first and never trailed again.

“It ended up being sort of ugly,” said Herndon. “But we’ll take it. Salisbury’s got some good ballplayers.”

But the Hornets still have one huge question mark. Which of those good ballplayers is going to step forward and be the catcher?

“We’re going to find that missing piece. We’re going to put together a winning combination,” Sexton promised. “The challenge is to keep our confidence high until we can do that.”

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