MOCKSVILLE— The times, they are a-changin’ for the Mocksville-Davie American Legion baseball team.
Mocksville lost two of its top hitters. Mocksville lost two of its feeder schools.
Steve LeFaivre and Drew Ridenhour aged out while Yadkin County high schools Forbush and Starmount were phased out.
“The thing about dropping Starmount and Forbush is that they haven’t given us any players the last two years,” Mocksville head coach Mike Lovelace said.
Mocksville went in the other direction, picking up players from perennial playoff power Glenn, along with Parkland. And get this. Glenn is coached by Dale Ijames, who is the most successful Mocksville Legion coach in team history.
But Ijames coaches his own summer team and Lovelace isn’t expecting much help from Glenn’s top players.
“Our big people are still coming from Davie County and West Forsyth,” said Lovelace.
One thing that isn’t expected to change is Post 74 battling for one of the top spots in the Southern Division. Lovelace’s team went 24-10 in 2000, a year after going 9-21 in his debut as coach. Mocksville bounced back because of tradition: it has only two losing seasons in 19 years and is 371-261 overall (.587 percentage).
Mocksville was very offensive last season. It averaged a whopping 10 runs per contest, smacked 32 homers, 75 doubles and had a team batting average of .328.
It may not be as productive this season. LeFaivre (now starting for Wake Forest), hit .383 with 31 RBIs. Ridenhour (now at Catawba College), had 45 RBIs, 11 doubles, seven homers and a .373 average.
But Lovelace, a former West Forsyth and UNC Charlotte lefty who is still the winningest pitcher in Mocksville Legion history, thinks the wins can still come.
Because of what he used to specialize in — pitching.
Listen to who returns on the mound: Cody Wright (7-3), Erik Walker (4-1), Travis Allen (4-3) and Andrew Daywalt (1-0, team-leading 3.13 ERA).
Throw in Davie County’s Lonnie “Hammer” Barnes, West Forsyth’s Cody Crotts and Parkland’s Justin Craver and it is as formidable of a staff as the Southern Division has.
Allen is coming off a spectacular 8-0 prep season at Davie while Wright, who threw a no-hitter in the Easter Tournament at Newman Park, is warming up.
“At the end of the year, (Wright’s) velocity was really picking up,” Lovelace said. “He’s getting back to where he was and I think warm weather has something to do with that. When he has confidence, he’s as good as anybody can be.”
Catching the staff will be Jeffrey and Andrew Jones of Davie, Justin Pasquel, the backup catcher at Glenn, and Willie Infante of West, a converted infielder.
Daywalt will be asked to take up much of the slack of the departed stars offensively.
“He’ll be a real big leader for us,” Lovelace said. “He was one of the better offensive players last summer. He’ll hit in the top three spots, of course.”
Daywalt, only a junior at Davie, will man the shortstop position in a strong infield. First baseman Dave Poplin (Davie), second baseman Ricky Bentley (Davie) and third baseman Timmy Bowman (Parkland) have been impressive in high school. Casey Stanley of West is also an infielder.
Randall Head and Chris Seaford of Davie will join West’s Brad Bullard, Charlie Ross and Joseph Brewer in the outfield.
One Glenn addition is Lovelace’s assistant, Keith Walker.
The talent should be enough to offset the loss of seven starters. West made the playoffs and Davie went 18-6. Also, there are only three 18-year-olds.
“It can be one of the strongest since I’ve been in it,” Lovelace said. “We won’t have the power but we’ll be a lot faster.”
Lovelace feels Concord will be the league favorite because of pitching.
“Kannapolis returns a lot of guys, South Rowan will be much improved and Whitey always does a good job at Mooresville,” said Lovelace. “Statesville may come out with some new players with (Brian)Hightower (Lovelace’s former assistant) going over there. It’s going to be some tough competition.”
Lovelace isn’t flinching, however.
“We may not have the Ridenhours or the LeFaivres, but we’ll have good players and I have all the confidence in the world in them.”
Mocksville will host Hightower’s Statesville team May 17 and goes to Stanly County May 18.
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Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4256 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com
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