CONCORD — As his career unfolds, East Rowan’s Ike Freeman is going to get fewer and fewer chances to swing a bat with games on the line, but he got an opportunity on Wednesday and made the most of it.
East’s Connor Johnson and Cox Mill’s Austin Fox — the pitching opponents — put zeroes on the scoreboard until the bottom of the sixth when Freeman made Johnson a 1-0 winner and made Fox a hard-luck loser — and sent East into Friday’s SPC tournament championship game.
Fourth-seeded Cox Mill is the tournament host, so top-seeded East was the home team on the Chargers’ field.
East hadn’t done much of anything offensively all evening, but Michael Caldwell, East’s leadoff man, blasted a long double to start the bottom of the sixth.
“What the coaches always preach is that no one is better than us in the late innings,” Caldwell said. “Fox is a great pitcher and mixed things up on us all day on us, but he threw me a fastball that was up a little it and in a little bit.”
Everyone in the park knew Ty Beck would try to move Caldwell with a bunt, but Beck executed. With Caldwell at third, one out and Freeman walking toward the batter’s box, Cox Mill coach Brandon Taylor conversed with Fox on the mound. It obviously was a chat about do-we-pitch-to-this-guy-or-not?
“We debated walking Freeman to set up a double play, but we elected to pitch to him,” Taylor said. “Freeman is a good baserunner and if we put him on, there’s a good chance he just steals second. But the biggest factor was that Freeman’s young. We know he’s a very good player, but he’s a sophomore.”
The plan was for Fox to pitch to Freeman, but there weren’t going to be any fastballs. If Freeman walked on curveballs, well, that would be fine and Fox would takes his chances with cleanup man Luke Setzer.
Freeman fouled off a curveball. Then he got another curve and sent it bouncing up the middle to score Caldwell with the game’s lone run.
“I knew I probably wouldn’t get a fastball to hit, so I was looking for another curve,” Freeman said. “I didn’t hit it great, but I’ll take it.”
The run-scoring single accounted for Freeman’s team-high 23rd RBI of the season.
It was a struggle for East (19-7) just to get to the sixth 0-0, even though Johnson (9-0) was on.
“It was exactly the kind of game I wanted,” Johnson said. “I was ready to compete and I knew Fox was going to compete, and it was going to be a good one.”
Johnson struck out the side in the second. Cox Mill lost a potential rally in the third when a call at first base was reversed.
The Catawba-bound Johnson got his 100th strikeout of the year in the fifth with a fastball, but he walked two batters before Julian Smith lashed a wicked two-out liner to left-center that looked like trouble.
“I thought that ball was dying and was going to fall in,” Johnson said. “I owe Beck heavily for making the play on that one.”
Beck was the right fielder before an injury to catcher Dustin Ritchie moved center fielder Luke Setzer behind the plate. Johnson is a good center fielder, but with Johnson on the mound, Beck was East coach Brian Hightower’s choice to play center, and he showed why.
“I was ready to dive for that ball, but, at the same time, I knew I couldn’t let it get past me,” Beck said. “If it got by me, that was going to be the ballgame. But the ball carried well all day. It stayed in the air and it got all the way out to me.”
Smith struck that ball too well. It traveled a long way on a line, and that turned out to be good news for East.
“We pride ourselves on defense,” Hightower said. “Beck made a good read and he made a good break on that ball.”
In the fourth inning, Caldwell, East’s second baseman, made a marvelous play to keep Cox Mill from scoring. With two outs and a runner at second, he went sliding on his knees to glove a ball headed up the middle, made a backhand stop and threw out David Newton at first.
“It’s a real good play, but Caldwell makes that play in practice all the time,” Hightower said. “You almost expect him to make that play.”
Fans were amazed at the play. Caldwell, who is headed to Pitt Community College, took it in stride.
“You know you have to come up big and get it done in a game like that,” Caldwell said. “It’s what we do.”
Fox, who is headed to Pfeiffer, allowed just four hits, including doubles by Caldwell and Joseph Peeler. He walked two and struck out five.
“We charted him the last time he pitched against us,” Hightower said. “You usually can find a pattern and you know what pitch a pitcher’s going to throw in a certain count, But Fox stayed unpredictable all day.”
Fox threw a lot of curveballs when Mustangs were expecting fastballs.
Meanwhile, Johnson, who had the best curveball he’s had all season, also pitched a four-hitter. He struck out 11 and walked two. He got the ball back from Setzer and threw it immediately, and Cox Mill rarely was able to break his rapid-fire rythym,
“We knew with Johnson coming here to pitch and with Fox as competitive as they come, two runs would mean a win today and that even one might be enough,” Taylor said. “It was two great pitchers going at it.”
Johnson struck out the side in the seventh and appropriately enough, he struck out Fox, the Chargers’ leadoff man, on three straight curveballs to end the game.
“That was kind of a pitcher-to-pitcher thing there,” Johnson said.
While East heads to the tourney championship game, Cox Mill heads to the playoffs. With Smith (6-2), a lefty, and Fox (6-3) pitching, the Chargers (18-7) could be a tough out.
Cox Mill has lost six times to the four Rowan teams in the SPC, but the Chargers have yet to lose outside the SPC and they’ve lost only one road game all season (at Carson).
“We’ve got two really good arms,” Taylor said. “We’re looking to make a run.”