CONCORD — West Rowan’s Jared Barnette threw about 75 great pitches and one bad one on Tuesday afternoon.
The bad one beat him.
The bad one was a first-inning curveball with two on and one out. It sailed out of the right-handed senior’s hand and hung invitingly just above Central Cabarrus slugger Josh “Goose” Fregosi’s waist.
And Fregosi wasted it.
The lefty launched a soaring drive that cleared the right-field fence. Just like that, Central led 3-0. The scoreboard never changed the rest of the afternoon in a lightning-fast game that lasted barely 75 minutes.
“Fregosi was the wrong guy to hang one to,” sighed Barnette. “I know who he is and he’s an awesome hitter. It was just one bad pitch, but it killed us.”
Barnette (3-2) bounced back to toss a strong three-hitter with six strikeouts. But his mound opponent, lefty Thomas Wilson, a likely draft pick this June, was even better. Wilson threw just 66 pitches and didn’t surrender a hit until West clean-up batter Ben Hampton slapped a high breaking ball into left field with two outs in the seventh. It was a 1-and-2 delivery, so Wilson was a strike away from a no-hitter.
“Yeah, soon as Hampton hit it, I knew,” shrugged Wilson. “All day long, I hit my spots. On that pitch, I didn’t.”
Wilson fanned nine and didn’t walk a batter. The only other West baserunner was Ryan Schenk, who reached on an error to lead off the game. Between Schenk and Hampton, Wilson blew down 20 straight Falcons.
“This was Wilson’s best effort of the season, no doubt,” said Central coach Bryan Tyson.
The Falcons likely wasted their best effort of the season in the field. Third baseman Cory Ruff made two diving stops and Schenk ran down several balls in center. Shortstop Clay Everson tracked down a soft fly with his back to the plate. Barnette may have made the best play of all — a sliding catch on his knees in foul territory of a ball popped up by
Fregosi.
“All the guys were playing great behind me,” said Barnette. “They made some real plays and I was feeling great. I told them, ‘Hey, just get me the lead and we’ll win this thing.’ ”
But West couldn’t make a dent against Wilson. Only a couple of balls were hit with authority.
Shawn Trosper drilled a one-hopper up the middle in the fifth, but Wilson made the play. Third baseman Jeremiah Hoyle went high in the air to glove a bouncer by Ruff in the sixth. Todd Greene chased down Barnette’s drive to right in the seventh.
West (7-5, 4-5 3A South Piedmont Conference) has been shut out twice in a row and has scored just two runs in its last three games.
“The hitting thing is in our heads now,” said Barnette. “It’s something we’ve got to work through.”
West coach Chris Cauble agreed with Barnette that West’s hitting woes are mostly mental, but said he detected progress at the plate in spite of the grim story told by the scoreboard.
“We had better swings — a lot more quality at-bats today,” he said. “The guys are working in practice.”
“We’re killing it in practice,” added assistant coach Frank Shepherd, shaking his head.
But Fregosi is the only one who killed it when it counted.
“Their guy (Barnette) threw it pretty good,” said Fregosi. “But that one pitch, it just sat over the plate for me.”
Against a team as good as Central (9-2, 7-2), there’s simply no margin for error. Not even one pitch.
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