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SPENCER— The North Carolina High School Athletic Association made rules for people like Daniel Moore.
When North Rowan travels to Five County Stadium this weekend for the 2A state baseball championship, its star left-handed pitcher will take the mound for Game 1 of the three-game series.
If Moore throws all seven innings of the 11 a.m. opener against eastern champ Greene Central, he’ll have just five left the rest of the weekend.
It wouldn’t be healthy for a team’s ace to throw every game all season, but maybe, just once for the state playoffs, a coach and pitcher could decide to ride a star arm for all its worth.
That’s where the NCHSAAsteps in — 12 innings in 48 hours.
Congratulations on having one great pitcher. Have you got two or three?
“I’d like to be out there when it’s all on the line, throw the last pitch of my career, win or lose,”Moore said. “But I’ve got great confidence in the other pitchers on this team.”
Three Cavaliers toil in Moore’s shadow: sophomore Brandon Doby, junior Phillip Goodman and senior Nate Woodburn. A starring role in North’s title chase awaits at least one of them this weekend.
According to head coach Bill Kesler, following in Moore’s footsteps isn’t necessarily that stressful.
“Daniel has taken a lot of pressure off of them due to the fact he gives us a good performance, so you don’t have to do it all yourself,”Kesler said.
But Moore’s dominance tends to intimidate, and not just opposing batters.
The 6-foot-6 lefty throws 90 mph for a half-dozen professional scouts present for each start. He’s already earned a full ride to North Carolina on the strength of incredible numbers for his junior and senior seasons: 157 innings pitched, 64 hits, 30 runs, 15 earned runs, 64 walks, 286 strikeouts, 0.69 earned run average.
“It’s a tough job,”Goodman said. “He’s throwing 89-90 mph and then I come in, it’s hard to follow that up.”
“It adds a lot of pressure,” chimed in Doby. “You don’t want to go out there after he wins and mess it up.”
To this point, the Cav pitching staff has avoided the kind of disaster it dreads. North stands 22-5 in this record-setting season, with Moore at 12-2. That leaves 10 wins covering nearly 100 innings in the hands of those other guys.
Doby, the likely Game 2 starter, sailed through the regular season with a 5-1 record. The 6-4 hard-throwing right-hander struck out 45 batters in 45 innings and enters with a 2.49 ERA. He did struggle, however, in his only playoff start, allowing two runs on five hits to Ledford in 113 innings.
All four North pitchers saw action in that third-round game, eventually won 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh.
Goodman surrendered three runs on three hits in 223 innings against North’s Central Carolina Conference rival. But he also emerged as a playoff hero.
When Moore faltered in the seventh inning of the Cavs’ second-round game againstWest Wilkes, Kesler called on Goodman to finish. The junior went to his bag of tricks, including a nasty knuckleball, and struck out both batters he faced for a save in the 5-2 win.
Goodman might not overpower the opposition, but he’s still 3-1 with 24 Ks in 2013 innings. His ERA stands at 2.07.
Woodburn, outside of 113 scoreless innings against Ledford, hasn’t pitched more than an inning since March 30, a no-decision in a non-conference victory against Kannapolis.
But when the Cavs needed him, their other senior hurler proved effective. Woodburn’s ERAof 1.56 stands second on the team. In 3113 innings, he allowed 16 hits and struck out 20.
Combined then, North’s backup hurlers recorded 89 Ks in 9623 innings and allowed 42 runs — 29 earned — for a 2.10 ERA.
That’s earned them high praise, and it comes from a pretty good source.
“I try to give them as much encouragement as I can,”Moore said. “I don’t expect them to go out there and throw a one-hitter or a two-hitter every game. We just expect them to give their best effort, and that’s what they’ve been doing every game.”
ComeSaturday, in the most important game of all, a young sophomore will stroll to the mound with a state title on the line. It’s not a situation Doby expected to find himself in.
“Not at all,”Doby said. “I just try not to think about it.”
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Steve Hanf is covering North in the state playoffs this weekend.
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