They have the easy job. Head coach Bill Kesler gets the hard part — trying to decide who to pitch tonight at 7 in the opening round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 2A state playoffs. And opposing coach Scott Rhodes of North Henderson has to figure out how to hit whoever the Cavs throw at the visiting Knights.

A pitching staff that boasts a 1.22 earned run average heads into the playoffs well rested. North Rowan last played Wednesday in the Central Carolina Conference Tournament title game, a 7-0 win over Ledford for Brandon Doby. The Cavalier sophomore stands 4-1 with a 2.30 ERA. Junior Phillip Goodman sits at 3-1 with a 1.23 ERA and senior Nate Woodburn is 2-1 with a 1.63 mark.

Of course, Kesler and the Cavs always have Daniel Moore to turn to — 127 strikeouts in 641/3 innings and a 0.33 earned run average.

Coaches have been forced to make tougher and more unpleasant decisions than this one.

“They’re all ready to pitch,” Kesler said. “Doby has two shutouts in his last two starts, Phillip’s ERA is 1.23. I’d like to save some of Daniel for Friday, but if we need him, we’ll use him.

“I feel like our pitching is better this year than it was last year, and I thought it was pretty good last year,” Kesler added. “It’s been a long time since anybody’s scored much of anything off us.”

Actually, it’s been nine games since a team scored more than two runs off North Rowan’s staff. Seven of those last nine were shutouts as the Cavs (18-5 overall) finished off their second straight 12-0 CCC campaign.

None of this comes as a surprise to Rhodes, whose Knights set a school record for wins this season at 12-9. Tonight’s game will be the first postseason trip for North Henderson in the school’s seventh year of existence.

“Everything I have heard about Coach Kesler, Daniel Moore and the whole program, it’s just great things every time I talk to anybody,” Rhodes said. “We’ve been in a lot of close ballgames all year, and that’s what we’re expecting. Battle for seven innings, keep it close and try to come out with a win late in the game.”

South Point’s Red Raiders were declared 2-1 winners in that game, which was controversially shortened to four innings by rain.

“We’d just started to hit their pitcher,” remembers Safrit. “And we had (future college stars) Jason Foster, David Trexler and Travis Goins coming up in the fifth. We had a good shot. But then it rained. We felt the game could have been played after that, but no effort was made to get the field ready.”

East, of course, came back to win the 3A title in ‘95, but that triumph washed away only part of the lingering emptiness from that rainy day in Belmont.

Safrit was good friends — then, and now — with South Point’s veteran coach Mickey Lineberger, but the memory of that abbreviated loss remains one of the biggest disappointments of his career.

A game six years ago, will have little bearing on tonight’s “rematch” as far as the players go. Obviously, all of them were in grade school when that wild ‘94 contest went in the books. There will be fans on both sides, however, who do remember that close encounter of the absurd kind, and that should add a little extra flavor to what already looms as one of the best first-round matchups in the state.

“I expect a really big crowd,” said Safrit. “We should have some people, and they’ll definitely bring a bunch of people.”

After that fateful night in ‘94, the programs at East and South Point went their separate ways.

The Mustangs (23-4) are back in the playoffs for the ninth straight year under Safrit. The Raiders, on the other hand, made the playoffs in ‘95 but haven’t returned until this year.

“We’re young, but we’ve got some good kids who will go far in baseball once they grow up a little,” says Lineberger.

“The teams are pretty similar,” said Lineberger, “even though Jeff’s got a lot better record.”

Safrit agrees. He knows he’s in for a fight as soon as the first pitch is thrown at Staton Field at 7 p.m.

The good news? No rain is in the forecast.

“That’s exactly what I told our guys,” said Cauble, who guided the Falcons (14-11) through the minefield that is the South Piedmont Conference and into the state playoffs in his first year in Mount Ulla.

Few prognosticators figured the Falcons for one of the SPC’s three playoff berths prior to the season. Fewer still were on the West bandwagon after the Falcons lost four straight at midseason to plunge to 6-7. But the Falcons kept plugging, even after most people wanted to pull the plug. They closed with eight victories in their last 12 games, including a do-or-die win over Piedmont to close the regular season and two more win-or-pack-up-the-uniforms victories over Harding and Kannapolis in the SPC Tournament.

“We’ve been in a bunch of gotta-win games already,” said Cauble. “It’s like we’ve been playing playoff games for two weeks. That’s why we’ve got a shot. Our kids aren’t just happy to be in the playoffs, they’ll be out there believing they can win.”

Cauble, of course, will be in his first playoff game as a head coach. But he’s loose enough to joke about first baseman Shawn Trosper, being the only Falcon with playoff experience. Well, sort of. Trosper was a reserve on Mike Gurley’s basketball team.

As the third seed from the SPC, West, playing its first playoff game since ‘97, must travel to the house of a difficult opponent. Waiting for the Falcons at 7 p.m. will be Tri-County Conference regular season champ Central Davidson. The Spartans own a gaudy 23-3 record and have been ranked in the state’s top 10 much of the season.

Central is led by two super seniors, lefty outfielder/pitcher Chase Younts and right-handed pitcher/shortstop Nick Lockhart. Whom to pitch against the Falcons? That’s the million dollar question staring at Mike Lawson, Central’s veteran coach, who is in his 13th year of making those tough decisions.

From all reports, Lockhart (7-2) is Central’s ace. But then, Younts (6-1) is a pretty good No. 2. And Younts, since he’s a southpaw, might actually match up better with West’s lefty sluggers Drew Callicutt (.368, 19 RBIs) and Ben Hampton (.300, 17 RBIs). “Bash Brothers” Hampton and Callicutt have combined for eight of the Falcons’ 11 homers and nearly 40 percent of West’s RBIs.

Scouting reports in the baseball state playoffs generally don’t mean much to coaches. This is the time of year to worry about your own team and how well it’s playing.

But something Davie County head coach Mike Herndon heard about first-round foe North Forsyth has caused some concern. The number 6 — as in six straight wins for the Metro Conference’s surprise entry into the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A playoffs. The Vikings and War Eagles meet tonight at 7:30 at Rich Park.

“They’ve won six straight and beat a real good team in Southeast Guilford to win the tournament,” Herndon said. “We might be catching them at a bad time.”

The Vikings (14-11) finished third in the Metro regular season after closing with three straight wins. The roll continued into the conference tournament with a pair of shutouts against Greensboro Page and East Forsyth. A 9-2 win over No. 1 seed Southeast Guilford in the championship game bumped East from the playoffs.

“We had to put three games together to get where we are now, and we put together a pretty good string right there, three days back to back,” head coach Gene Bowles said. “We felt all along that we had the pitching to do something like that. The way we’re playing right now, I think we’ve got a good shot at playing a couple more games.”

To stop that from happening, Davie (15-10) must solve North ace Jason Duncan, a 6-foot-2 left-hander. Duncan is 4-1 for the year and struck out 18 batters in one game and 17 in another while averaging two Ks an inning.

If Davie’s strong offense shows up, connecting off Duncan might not be much of a problem. In the Central Piedmont Conference Tournament semifinal, the War Eagles collected 14 hits against a strong R.J. Reynolds staff. But the attack sometimes lacks consistency — in the CPC final against Mount Tabor, Davie struggled to beat pitching that Herndon said wasn’t as good as what Reynolds threw.

Sophomore shortstop Andrew Daywalt led Davie in CPC play with a .364 average and two home runs. Senior catcher Drew Ridenhour batted .337 overall with a homer and team-leading 17 RBIs, while fellow seniors Ross Smith and Brad Willard come in at better than .300.

“I’m hoping the good part of the bats come out,” Herndon said. “We’re going to put the ball in play. If we play good defense and don’t go brain-dead out there, I think we’ll have a good chance.”

Travis Allen should get the start for Davie. The junior is 1-1 in the CPC this season with a 4.59 ERA, but Herndon said Allen’s record is very misleading because of a number of no-decisions.