By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY ó At a school where theyíre stacking championships like cordwood, Salisbury baseball doesnít attract much attention, but the Hornets have stayed more than respectable in an era when schools with similar demographics are struggling to compete on the diamond.
With seniors Philip Tonseth, John Knox and Spencer Carmichael enjoying tremendous seasons, Salisbury (13-10) is on its way to its fifth winning campaign in the past seven years under coach Scott Maddox, who took the helm in 2001.
The one thing that has usually eluded some pretty good SHS teams is hardware for the trophy case. The Hornets tied for the CCC regular season title in 2008 and won the CCC tournament in 2006, but thatís about it.
Salisbury has a chance to change that trend tonight when it plays host to East Davidson at 7 p.m. in the tournament championship game.
The Salisbury-East Davidson baseball rivalry has been a fantastic one over the years, if you grade rivalries based on the degree of difficulty of predicting a winner.
In the last 10 meetings, both schools have claimed five victories.
The last home-and-home regular season sweep in the series was by Salisbury in 2008, but East Davidson evened things up by beating the Hornets in the CCC tournament in both 2009 (title game) and 2010 (semis).
As far as this season, Salisbury pounded East Davidson 14-7 at home ó Tonseth was the winning pitcher and belted a grand slam ó but the Golden Eagles avenged that loss with a 4-3 Senior Night victory in Thomasville behind ace Tyler Lequire.
East Davidson skipper Dan Tricarico has been around even longer than Maddox. He led the Golden Eagles to a 1999 2A state championship and has been voted CCC Coach of the Year four times.
East Davidson hasnít won the league regular season crown since 2001, but after some lean years, Tricarico, always a class act, whether heís 20-4 or 6-18, has his program back in the hunt.
While a trophy and bragging rights are certainly at stake tonight, the biggest prize on the table is the CCCís No. 2 seed for the 2A playoffs.
Salisbury will be the leagueís No. 4 playoff seed if it loses tonight and will play at the Rocky River No. 2 seed on Friday. A win would keep the Hornets at home Friday against the Rocky River No. 3.
East Davidson is No. 2 if it wins, but No. 3 if it loses.
This school year, Salisbury athletic teams have taken 11 of 18 regular season championships in the CCC.
Baseball, which hasnít had a CCC Player of the Year honoree since 1989 or the CCC Coach of the Year ó ever ó wouldnít mind joining the fun.