Davie County pitcher Lonnie “Hammer” Barnes isn’t ashamed, embarrassed or chagrined to be known as the No. 4 pitcher on the War Eagles’ staff.
Far from it. In fact, Barnes embraces his role. He loves it.
“I don’t mind being called the No.4 guy,” said Barnes. “Because that just tells me we must have a very awesome baseball team. We must be loaded.”
Monday night, Barnes loaded the Kendall Huffman Award he received for being Cliff Peeler Baseball Classic MVP on the Davie bus. He fired a sparkling one-hitter to subdue South Rowan 6-1 in the championship game at Newman Park.
“Barnes stayed ahead in the count, threw strikes,” sighed South coach Linn Williams, whose team had its first two-game winning streak snapped. “It was a low strike zone and Barnes put it down there.”
Justin Pinyan’s infield hit to deep short in the third was the lone Raider base hit. South batters were mesmerized and hypnotized by Barnes, who offered up a Whitman’s sampler of changeups and curves and an occasional fastball.
“Saturday, we saw speed (from East’s Jeremy Teague and Spencer Steedley),” said South shortstop Ronnie Shore. “We just never did make the adjustment to Barnes.”
Barnes’ heroics were merely the latest in a tournament dominated by Davie’s pitching. The War Eagles (16-3) outscored three Rowan foes 22-3. Cody Wright (no-hitter Thursday), Andrew Daywalt (six strong innings Saturday) and Barnes were so strong that War Eagles coach Mike Herndon was able to preserve his ace, Travis Allen (7-0), for today’s crucial 4A Central Piedmont Conference game with West Forsyth.
Herndon’s team came into the finals the overwhelming favorite after South (7-11) upset East Rowan in the semis. But being in that supposed-to-win position can be a little scary. It means the other guys have nothing to lose and all the pressure’s on you.
Well, unless, Barnes is pitching. Then pressure’s a moot point.
“Pressure?” asked Barnes, with an amused look on his face. “I live for pressure. Butterflies? What are butterflies?
“I looked forward to the game all day long — just as soon as I rolled out of bed. I had all the confidence in the world as soon as I hit the hill.”
Barnes’ biggest natural gift is that through-the-roof confidence. He wasn’t born a pitcher, he was made. By his own sweat — and Herndon’s. “Hammer” tacked 12 mph on to his modest fastball through Herndon’s rigorous offseason training sessions.
“He worked his butt off,” said Herndon. “We straightened out his mechanics.”
On the bus to NewmanPark, Herndon told Barnes, a junior right-hander, that he was going to be mighty, mighty upset if the War Eagles dropped the title game. Barnes reportedly replied, “I got it Coach, I got it. I’m just gonna serve ’em up and let ‘er go.”
“But I’d say he did a little more than just serve them up,” said Herndon. “He showed people he could pitch. He didn’t look like any No. 4 pitcher to me.”
South’s Jared Wingler did too. Wingler (2-6) conceivably could have held Davie scoreless had he gotten the level of defensive support Barnes enjoyed. “Jared pitched well enough to win most games,” said Williams. “It was disappointing. You get this far, you want to win.”
Davie scored three unearned runs in the first, then pieced together a three-run fifth with the aid of some South self-destruction. Travis Allen drove in three runs with three hits. Jeff Jones had two hits and an RBI, as Davie, just as it did against West in the semis, capitalized on every defensive lapse.
Meanwhile, Barnes had smooth sailing. South’s only run came after Barnes threw away Keith Clark’s bunt to open the fifth. Craig Haas’ grounder moved Clark to third and Pinyan’s fly ball scored him. That was a start toward getting back in the game, but Barnes bowled over the Raiders like tenpins in the 6th and 7th.
“I expected a lot more from us,” said Shore. “We were flat and you figured we’d be pumped after beating East. But it was like the old South Rowan showed up today.”
“We were all up and then we made errors and it was like someone turned off the switch,” added second baseman Greg Deal, who received the MVP award for South.
Herndon looked as if he might jump right out of his cleats in the seventh.
“Coach kept yelling for me to ‘Hammer hook-’em! Hammer-time ’em!” said Barnes, who lives just across the Davie-Rowan line in Cooleemee. “He does that all the time. That gets you pumped up. Gets you excited.”
“I was excited for Lonnie, excited for all these kids, because this is a top-notch tournament. Winning it means a lot to our program,” said Herndon. “Rowan’s got a rich baseball tradition. We played three Rowan teams and we won a championship.”
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