ASHEBORO — Last time Asheboro baseball coach Jerry Walser ran into his West Rowan counterpart Chris Cauble was at a Feb. 25 basketball game at Pfeiffer University’s Merner Gym.
Cauble had just watched Mike Gurley’s Falcons fall to High Point Andrews in a sectional final. Walser was waiting to check out the Blue Comets, who were on deck.
“Chris asked me how we were going to be this year and I told him I didn’t have any idea,” said Walser. “I was going crazy about that time, because a big part of our baseball team was still playing basketball.”
As it turned out, those Asheboro basketball players weren’t too shabby on the diamond, either. Walser’s team went 18-5 and won both the Tri-County Conference regular season title with a 10-2 mark (that’s 14 crowns in 22 years for the Comets) and the conference tournament.
That solid season sets up a reunion between basketball junkies Cauble and Walser. Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Asheboro’s McCrary Park, they’ll renew acquaintances. This time the chatter will be less friendly. They’ll be in opposite dugouts for a 3A first-round state playoff game.
Walser knows quite a bit about the Falcons, who scratched and clawed their way into the playoffs again, making it 2-for-2 for Cauble. Partly, Walser knows stuff from listening to tales told by Scott Young, the Falcons’ football coach. Walser and Young are tight after coaching together at Davie County a few years back.
Partly, Walser knows stuff the new-fashioned way — from perusing the Salisbury Post on the Internet.
“Read about West quite a bit,” said Walser. “Just lookin’, it appears like West doesn’t score a lot and it looks like they don’t give up a lot. That suggests we’re up against a sound team.”
Asheboro has half as many losses as the Falcons (15-10), No. 3 seed out of the South Piedmont Conference, but Walser says you can take that with the proverbial grain of Morton’s salt.
“It’s all relative,” he said. “Our league is solid, but to say it’s as strong as West’s league would be a real stretch. There wasn’t any 18-way tie for second in our league like the SPC almost had. And I don’t think there was another league where East (Rowan) was gonna start 0-and-5.
“If (SPC top seed) Central Cabarrus isn’t the best team in 3A, who is?” Walser continued. “And who in the state has got a more storied program than (SPC No. 2 seed) East? Yeah, West has 10 losses, but I think you have to qualify those 10 losses.”
Walser makes a valid point. Half of West’s losses were to Central (22-3) and East (17-8). West’s only loss outside the SPC was to a good 4A Davie team in the Cliff Peeler Baseball Classic.
Still, as Walser is well aware, West doesn’t pass Go very much. In nearly half their games (12), the Falcons have scored three or fewer runs. Three times they scored just one run and twice they were shut out. West’s leading hitters — Cory Ruff (.385), Matt Morgan (.365) and Shawn Trosper (.361) — combined for 73 base hits, but 63 were singles. West’s top RBI man, Jared Barnette, has driven in a modest 17.
In contrast, Asheboro has some real boppers.
Third baseman Ben Yow batted .462 with a scary 37 RBIs. Table-setting outfielders John Pugh and Spencer Brooks, and 285-pound Mark Steffanacci hit over .400. Lance Cole, a pitcher, batted .394.
“We do swing it pretty good. We can hit it around a little bit,” said Walser, whose team was eliminated from last year’s playoffs by Central. “But those numbers might be deceptive. We have higher batting averages than West, but they’ve faced better pitchers.”
Don’t get the idea that Walser is putting his team down. He calls Yow a “great player and a candidate for player of the year in the Tri-County.” He also compares Pugh to former East Rowan lightning bolt Nick Heard and Brooks to current East roadrunner Cal Hayes Jr., so West, especially catcher Ben Hampton, will have to deal with some serious speed.
Walser says it’s hard to label his squad as a “hitting team” or a “pitching and defense team,” because it’s got a little bit of everything.
“It probably is the most complete team I’ve ever had,” he acknowledged.
Walser’s not kidding about complete. The Blue Comets aren’t ranked in the state poll, but are hitting .379 and boast a team ERA of 2.22. That’s balance.
Asheboro has the statistical advantages, but the guy on the hill can often equalize things. Cauble hopes that’s the case with his ace right-hander, Barnette, who’s won 13 games over the past two seasons. Barnette (7-4) will get the start and heads into the playoffs much fresher than a year ago, even though he paces the county in innings pitched (66). The workhorse also leads Rowan County in wins and strikeouts (82) and carries a 2.02 ERA.
Walser has already been impressed by Barnette, although he hasn’t actually seen him pitch.
“I saw him at quarterback when West played High Point Andrews in the football playoffs,” said Walser. “ Jared showed me arm strength and athleticism, but mostly he showed me he could turn a bad play into a good play. That means he’s a competitor and a winner.”
Walser will counter Barnette with either of two right-handers — Steffanacci, a strapping 6-foot-5 stud who’s headed for Brown University to play football — or Cole. Chances are it’ll be Cole, who tossed a recent no-hitter against Trinity.
“Cole is a lot like Barnette,” said Walser. “He’s got an assortment of pitches and he can move it in and out, up and down.”
Walser says he’d bet good money it’ll be a tense, low-scoring affair.
“I don’t think either team’s gonna score touchdowns,” he said. “West has played plenty of low-scoring games, so we’ll have to match their mental toughness. I expect it to be exciting — typical playoff baseball.”
Today's News
