GRANITE QUARRY — This year’s South Piedmont Conference tournament was an upside-down affair, but Brandon Taylor was cool with that. His fifth-seeded Cox Mill squad was on top of things.

“It’s not a surprise to us at all,” Taylor said after the Chargers outscored sixth-seed Hickory Ridge, 7-2, in Thursday night’s tournament final at Staton Field. “We had a chance to win the conference regular-season title. If nobody else thought we had a shot, we’ve got 20 guys right here who did.”

Cox Mill (15-8) won its second tournament title in three years and earned the league’s No. 2 seed in the upcoming 3A state playoffs. Regular-season champ West Rowan is the league’s top seed and Carson No. 3.

“We’re hoping for one of the wild cards,” Hickory Ridge coach Branden Knapp said after the Ragin’ Bulls (16-9) suffered its third loss to Cox Mill. “Our conference is so level from the top team to the bottom team. Sometimes that’s how baseball is.”

Winning pitcher Julian Smith blended a streamlined fastball with a deceptive pickoff move to limit the Bulls to a pair of leadoff singles — Jake Whitcomb’s in the top of the first and Collin Sprinkle’s in the second. He finished with 10 strikeouts, four walks and two pickoffs in six innings.

“I wasn’t trying to do anything special,” the senior lefty said. “My teammates gave me some run support, and I just kept putting the ball to the plate. It wasn’t just me. It was all of us.”

Hickory Ridge scored a pair of unearned runs in the first inning that held up until Cox Mill tied the score 2-2 against junior Andrew Friends in the last of the second.

The go-ahead run crossed in the fifth when Friends walked leadoff batter Chris Wright and was eventually balked home by reliever Greg Walso. Cody Smith’s infield hit made it 4-2 before Kyle Lowke, Cox Mill’s hitter in the No. 9 slot, fouled off a half-dozen pitches before delivering a two-out, two-run single to center field.

“He’s been doing that all year,” Taylor said. “That’s what he does. He gets up there and grinds, stays focused and puts the bat on the ball.”

First-baseman David Newton had three hits for the winners while Cody Smith had two. Justin Sponseller pitched a scoreless seventh inning and induced a game-ending double play.

 

Hickory Ridge 200 000 0 — 2  2  2

Cox Mill  020 041 x — 7  9  3

WP — Ju. Smith (2-2)

LP — Friends (4-4)