Cody Wright’s no-hitter got Davie County off to a fast start in the Cliff Peeler Baseball Classic at Newman Park Thursday.
Wright, a junior right-hander, faced only 17 batters while pitching the War Eagles to a five-inning, 10-0 victory over Salisbury in the tournament’s opening game.
Wright retired the first six batters he faced before the Hornets’ Ryan Lesley reached base on shortstop Andrew Daywalt’s throwing error to open the third. The only other baserunner Wright allowed was Daniel Wallace, who walked in the fourth.
Jack Campbell came the closest to getting a hit off the Davie hurler, lining a shot back to the mound to open the fifth inning.
Wright wasn’t concerned that the no-hitter came in a five-inning game halted by the 10-run-lead rule.
“I like them any way they go,” he said, adding that he knew he was pitching a no-hitter but tried to keep it out of his mind.
“I knew it was, but I really didn’t want to think about it, because if I thought about it, then I’d ease up a little bit and maybe give up a hit,” he said.
“My fastball and my curveball were the main two I was throwing,” he pointed out. “I have a changeup, but I really didn’t throw it, because they weren’t catching up with the fastball.”
It was Wright’s first varsity no-hitter, but not his first no-hitter against a Salisbury team.
“Last year on jayvees I threw a no-hitter against Salisbury,” he said. Wright added that he knew a lot of the Salisbury players, either from jayvee ball or being teammates with them in AAU baseball.
He pitched two jayvee games as a sophomore before moving up the varsity. Then, last summer, he tore tendons in his right elbow while pitching against Kannapolis in an American Legion game, the last of the season for Mocksville-Davie.
“I started to go to rehabilitation and tried to get ready for AAU baseball, but I couldn’t in time. I had about three or four months off. It’s 100 percent now,” he said.
“It’s getting warm now, and he’s starting to let it fly a little bit,” said coach Mike Herndon of Davie (14-3), which is ranked 10th among the state’s 4A teams.
“Early in the year, he was struggling a little bit. He wasn’t throwing it but about 82 (miles per hour). Now he’s probably about 85 or 86. He did a good job. We were pleased with that. He’s going to be a key for us down the road,” said Herndon.
“We’re trying to develop a better offspeed pitch for him, so people can’t just zero in on his fastball, but he’s getting better with it.”
Herndon will pitch either Lonnie Barnes or Andrew Daywalt in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Saturday against West Rowan.
“It’s good to get that first win in this tournament. ... I’m glad it was five innings. That’s what I was hoping, so we can save our arms for next week in the conference,” said the Davie coach.
Davie is leading the Central Piedmont Conference race.
Despite not getting a hit, coach Scott Maddox’s young Salisbury club did itself proud in the field for four innings, trailing only 1-0. Then the Hornets committed four errors while Davie sent 11 batters to the plate and scored nine runs in the fifth and final inning.
Salisbury, now 2-12, will play Friday’s East Rowan-Albemarle loser at 1 p.m. Saturday in the consolation bracket.
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NOTES: Ricky Bentley led Davie at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a triple and two runs batted in. Five other War Eagles had one hit apiece. ... Bentley had two hits in the fifth inning, a triple to right that drove in a run for a 2-0 lead and a bloop single to center that drove in a run and extended the lead to 8-0. ... Davie’s final two runs scored on a balk and passed ball.
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