Mustangs bury Bulldogs in baseball tourney

East Rowan freshman Jason Cauble knows his real glory days are ahead of him.

East Rowan senior Mark “Moose” Misenheimer, on the other hand, was just about convinced his baseball career had run its course without a single glory day.

Together, the kid and the veteran led the Mustangs to a 10-0, five-inning blitzing of Albemarle in a first-round game in the Cliff Peeler Classic.

East (10-6) has won five in a row and eight of its last nine games. The Mustangs will face South Rowan (6-10) in a 7 p.m. semifinal game tonight at Newman Park.

Albemarle, one of the better teams in the 1A Yadkin Valley Conference, fell to 8-5.

Cauble took advantage of loads of help from an air-tight defense, spearheaded by shortstop Cal Hayes Jr., to record his first career shutout. “I was a little nervous pitching here (at Newman Park),” said Cauble, who fanned five and scattered six hits. “But after I got my first strikeout, I was fine.”

East coach Jeff Safrit says his young right-hander has big-time potential.

“For a 15-year-old, he’s got some zip on the fastball,” said Safrit. “He’ll win some big games for East in the future. Heck, it might even be this year, because I’m not afraid to stick him out there against anybody.”

Cauble pitched four strong innings at South Rowan to give Safrit his first win of the season after a struggling 0-4 East start. In Cauble’s only other starting nod, he hurled into the sixth inning in a win at Concord.

And now, he’s 3-for-3 on the hill.

“I know Cauble’s tough. He does a heck of a job against our hitters in practice,” said a smiling Safrit.

Another Mustang who does a heck of a job on a daily basis in practice is Misenheimer. He’s one of those kids that fans, teammates, coaches — even sportswriters — root for, because he busts his tail in all the three major sports, makes no waves and never growls if he’s not in the lineup.

Safrit said after Tuesday’s win over Harding that he planned to give Misenheimer a shot in the Easter Tournament.

Misenheimer didn’t disappoint Safrit in his second start of the season, ripping a three-run homer — the first of his two-year varsity career. It came in the second inning and staked Cauble to a 4-0 lead.

“It was the easiest pitch I’ve seen all year,” Misenheimer said. “Belt high.”

He wasn’t done. He frosted the cake with a fifth-inning line single over third base that plated Bobby Parnell with East’s 10th run and allowed the Mustangs to stroll off the field with a premature victory.

“Misenheimer’s one of our stronger kids and he really hits in practice,” said Safrit. “We’ve mostly asked him to pinch hit this year and pinch-hitting — that’s a real tough job. We’re all glad to see him have a night like this, because he really is a great kid.”

Misenheimer hadn’t enjoyed a base hit since March 14 when he delivered a two-run single that helped beat East Forsyth. In fact, last night’s hits were only his second and third knocks all spring.

“I’ve had some chances and didn’t come through,” said Misenheimer. “It’s been tough,”

But this time he was tough on the other guys. He had the thrill of climbing the Newman Park steps for a coveted star-of-the-game radio interview for the first time.

Misenheimer, who has the shoulders and chest of a lumberjack, says his parents named him Mark, but no one’s called him by that name since sixth grade.

“My classmates, my teachers — everyone just calls me ‘Moose,’ ” he said.

Last night, “Moose” broke loose.

It was a pretty good game for a while, with Albemarle mounting several threats against Cauble.

Will Harrington touched Cauble for a one-out double in the first, but died at second.

The Bulldogs put runners at first and third with one out in the second, but East catcher Drew Davis shot down a runner trying to steal second to curtail the threat.

Albemarle opened the third with two singles and a bunt moved the runners over. But Morgan hit a liner right at Hayes to kill the inning.

Then in the fourth, right fielder Nick Lefko raced in to snare a low drive and Hayes made a marvelous, snow-cone catch of a soft liner headed up the middle.

The last straw for the Bulldogs came in the top of the fifth. Cauble walked the leadoff man and was clearly starting to labor. Safrit visited the mound and nearly turned to Julian Sides to finish things off. But he stayed with Cauble and the kid got a grounder to Hayes. Hayes flipped to Justin Miller and East turned a timely double play.

“I kept the ball down, got a grounder,” said Cauble. “That double play was nice. It was big.”

Davis opened the last of the fifth with a ringing double. The next four Mustangs reached via error or walk, then Aaron Safrit drilled a two-run single for a 9-0 lead.

Fittingly, the next batter was “Moose.” And “Moose” was ready.

“Coach told me to finish it off,” said Misenheimer. “We didn’t want Jason to have to go back out there and pitch anymore. He had pitched such a great game. That kid — he’s going to be a great player. You could see his confidence rising with every pitch.”

Misenheimer knows he won’t be remembered as great — just as solid and dependable and the ultimate team guy.

Last night, though, he was something more than that. The kid they call “Moose” stashed away some memories that will last a lifetime.

NOTES:Albemarle coach Gary Weiker, who graduated from Catawba in 1990, had an unhappy homecoming. “East is just solid,” he said. “They’re a little better baseball team than we are. They made big plays in the field; they got clutch hits.” ... East has averaged 10 hits in its last five games. Davis, Safrit and Parnell joined Misenheimer with two hits each. ... Parnell had an especially good night, 2-for-2, plus a bases-loaded walk. ... Safrit said his team is enjoying the break from the SPC rat-race. “We’ve played so many SPC games where there’s been no room for error and we’ve had very few nonconference games,” he said. “This is a chance to relax and try to get better.”