South Central’s baseball team took advantage of an opponent’s gifts on Tuesday.
The Falcons capitalized on numerous walks and hit batsmen for the bulk of its offense in a 6-4 victory over New Bern in a Big Carolina 3A/4A Conference matchup.
New Bern’s two pitchers issued eight walks and hit three batters. Bears starter Carter Champey was responsible for six of those bases on balls and two hit batsmen.
“Champey is a really good pitcher,” South Central coach Pat McRae said. “I think he has six or seven wins on the season. He didn’t necessarily throw his fastball in the zone tonight. We took advantage. We had two or three runs score on bases-loaded walks, then we came through with the bat when we needed to. We played pretty well.”
South Central (12-4, 5-3 Big Carolina 3A/4A) loaded the bases with one out in the first inning as leadoff batter Brody Stallings was hit by a pitch and Mason Hobbs and Christian Chance were issued walks. Brody Brannan had the count go full before walking, forcing home Stallings. Tyce Thompson followed with a single that New Bern shortstop Carter Huffman was tracking until the ball hopped up and into the outfield, driving in Hobbs and pinch-runner Brandon Worsley — who was in for Chance — to stake the Falcons to a 3-0 advantage.
Mike Woodard and Paxton Reagan drew one-out walks in the second for the Bears (10-6, 3-4). A single down the left-field line by Jess Brinson drove in Woodard and a sharp single to the right-field power alley two batters later by Benny Winslow scored Reagan to close the gap to 3-2.
New Bern’s Brad Hopkinson reached on a one-out infield single in the third inning, and he later scored as a well-struck single by Reagan just got past the glove of South Central starter Chance to knot the game at 3-3.
Chance drew a leadoff walk in the fourth inning, and three walks later — the last to Rahkeem Williams — pinch-runner Worsley was forced home to put South Central back ahead 4-3.
In the first three innings, the Falcons recorded just one hit, but Champney’s walks and hit batsmen kept putting South Central runners on base and eventually home.
“Swing the bat earlier in the at-bat, and look for fastballs early,” McRae said. “He was struggling with his off-speed, and we took for granted that we were going to take a walk.
“The moral of the story is if you get a fastball, hit it. Everything else, we played great tonight, but that’s the one thing, if we had to make an improvement, that’s where it would be.”
South Central earned its offense in the fourth as Chance hit a two-out single. Worsley, again pinch-running, took second on a passed ball, third on a wild pitch and easily went home on a double by Brannan to extend the Falcons’ lead to two.
South Central worked its way out of a jam in the fifth. Champey and Woodard were issued walks with one out, ending Chance’s night on the mound. Justin Blow relieved and allowed an infield single, but then got an inning-ending double play to preserve the lead.
The Falcons were threatened again in the sixth. Lane Daniels singled to start the frame, and Winslow blooped a single to left field. With one out and runners on second and third, Daniels came home on a passed ball to close the gap to 5-4 with the potential tying run on third and one out.
But Williams caught Carter Huffman’s deep fly ball and threw out Winslow at the plate trying to score to end the inning.
Williams also had a diving catch on a well-hit fly ball by Huffman to end the fourth inning.
“You can’t replace defense like that,” McRae said of Williams. “He’s made a couple of plays like that this season. We played Conley a week ago and he made a very similar play. He went to the gap, caught the ball, pivoted and doubled a guy up on first. He’s been playing good defense.
“Honestly, if he doesn’t make those two plays, we probably don’t win the ballgame because they scored two or three extra runs. It was huge.”
South Central’s patience paid off again in the sixth. Brinson, in relief of Champey, walked Stallings and hit Hobbs with a pitch. Brannan was issued an intentional walk, and Stallings was forced home on a walk to Thompson to restore the Falcons’ two-run lead.
Chance got the win, going 4.1 innings and scattering six hits. He struck out two, walked three and hit a batter.
“He threw the ball really well tonight, but I don’t think he had his good stuff,” McRae said. “It took him a little while to get his breaking ball, but he was good enough to get outs.
“I thought we played good defense behind him. Once he started trusting his off-speed stuff, he was good.”
Blow earned the save, giving up four hits.
Thompson finished 1-for-2 at the plate with three RBIs for South Central. Brannan was 1-for-1 with a sac bunt, two walks and two RBIs.
The Falcons are scheduled to host West Carteret on Thursday.
J.H. Rose 14, Northside Jacksonville 2 (5 inn.)
Rose once again ended things early on Tuesday night, leading 5-1 after one inning and 10-1 by the end of the third.
Wyatt Fagundas stayed hot with a 2-for-3 night that included a double and two RBIs, Demarcus McCray was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, Alex Popovich was 2-for-2 with an RBI and three runs scored and Ethan Simmons drove in a pair to lead the Rampants.
J.H. Rose (18-1, 8-0) carries a four-game winning streak into Thursday’s home clash against D.H. Conley.
D.H. Conley 15, Havelock 0 (5 inn.)
The Vikings scored five runs in the first inning, seven more in the third and three in the fourth to signal an early end to their 14th win of the campaign.
Conley (14-2, 7-1) smashed 10 hits to Havelock’s two.
The Vikes are riding a five-game winning streak into Thursday’s game at J.H. Rose.
Greene Central 7, West Craven 1
The Rams jumped to 16-0 this season in another comfortable Eastern Plains Conference win on Tuesday night, scoring twice in the top of the fourth inning to extend a lead and never trailing in the game.
Greene Central (9-0 EPC) had seven hits, all singles, with Easton Creech leading the way with two of them and an RBI. Will Radford drove in two runs, and Noah Uzzell and Riley Radford also drove in runs for GC.
Senior Austin Hardy pitched 6.2 innings, limited the Eagles to four hits and struck out 11 in the process.
The Rams played at Southside on Wednesday before hosting West Craven on Friday.
SouthWest Edgecombe 2, Ayden-Grifton 1
The Chargers stirred to life too late on Tuesday night, as they were down 2-0 in the sixth inning when they scored their one and only run.
A-G (12-6, 4-4) managed just two hits and committed three errors. Josh Tripp doubled and drove in the only run of the night for the Chargers.
Ashton Watkins struck out eight and walked one while allowing four hits in 4.1 innings for the Chargers.
A-G hosts SWE on Friday.
Wayne Country Day 6, John Paul II 3
The host Chargers battled back from 3-1 down to topple the Saints on Tuesday night.
JPII (11-6, 4-2) managed just two of its six hits off WCD starter Caden Scott, who struck out nine in 5.2 innings.
John Paul II hosts Coastal Christian on Thursday.
Washington 5, North Pitt 1
The Pam Pack notched their first win of the season at the expense of the Panthers.
Washington led 3-1 after four and added insurance runs in the sixth and seventh.
North Pitt (3-10, 0-6) will seek its first Eastern Plains Conference win on Friday at Washington.
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