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By Brian Pitts

Davie Enterprise Record

It’s been the strangest series of events between a trio of baseball teams – Davie, East Forsyth and Glenn.

Over two years, Davie has a five-game winning streak over East, including a 2-0 sweep in 2024. Davie has experienced the alternate universe against Glenn, losing five in a row during the 2023-24 seasons. This year East swept Glenn 2-0.

Who saw any of that coming?

The Bobcats continued to have Davie’s number in the Central Piedmont Conference Tournament quarterfinals in Kernersville on April 29. They beat Davie for the third time in seven days, 3-2. Most of the past five Davie-Glenn meetings have been highly entertaining; they just keep going Glenn’s way in the end.

Davie’s offense had a dismal night in the first round of the CPC Tournament. It only mustered five hits, went 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position and went down on strikes 10 times.

Yikes.

“We just failed to hit with people in scoring possession,” coach Joey Anderson said. “That was the game right there. We had more people in scoring position with less than two outs than they did.”

The fifth-seeded War Eagles had ample opportunity to put No. 4 Glenn in a hole in the early innings. On the second pitch of the game, Coy James tripled to right-center field. Drew Krause walked and courtesy runner Will Wands stole second. But with runners at second and third and no outs, Davie flew out to left, struck out and grounded out to short – none of which moved James from third.

In the second, Craig McBride singled off an 0-2 offering, Cooper Bliss walked and Logan Allen dropped down a sac bunt. But Glenn pitcher Carmine Lancaster threw out McBride at home, and with runners at second and third and two down, Lancaster got a batter on strikes.

In the third, Krause singled but was erased by a 5-4-3 double play.

Davie’s frustration was heightened by the fact that Connor Berg was just humming along on the mound for Davie. (Of course he was; he has turned in quality start after quality start all year.)

Berg mowed down Glenn 1-2-3 in the second, third and fourth.

“That’s a tough pill to swallow,” Anderson said of Davie wasting James’ first-inning triple. “We let (Lancaster) off the hook. We had other opportunities. We had multiple, multiple, multiple opportunities. We just needed one big hit.”

Davie did break through in the fifth. Allen walked and when he moved to second on a groundout, Glenn coach Dustin Ijames intentionally walked James. With two outs, the rampaging Hunter Potts jumped on the first pitch and put Davie on the board with a single to right. Kason Stewart’s hit by pitch put two on with two outs, but Davie’s offense did a disappearing act in the clutch all game with the exception of Potts’ hit. A strikeout ended the top of the fifth and kept Davie’s lead at 1-0.

Alas, Glenn’s offense woke up in the fifth. A single-walk-single loaded the bases with one out. Leadoff man Brayden Winters was next. Winters and Berg battled furiously. Winters fouled off five pitches before Berg caught him looking at strike three.

“That kid is an excellent, excellent hitter,” Anderson said of Winters. “I mean, he tore us up game after game after game. Connor kept battling, kept going at him.”

After retiring Winters, Berg put sophomore Craig McGhee in an 0-2 hole. But McGhee blooped a single to right that scored two and lifted Glenn in front 2-1.

“Glenn does a very good job of swinging the bats,” Anderson said. “They are going to get their three hacks. They are not cheated at all.”

The drama thickened in the top of the sixth. With one out, Bliss reached via hit by pitch and stole second. When Coston Colamarino reached on a strike three/wild pitch, Bliss came racing home to knot the score at 2.

Then it was Glenn’s turn to yell and scream. Evan Britt opened the bottom of the sixth with a triple. Berg induced a harmless flyout and got a popup to third, but Britt would score on a wild pitch with two outs.

The War Eagles were down a run with one at-bat left. Glenn reliever Logan Stump, who struck out five of his seven batters, fanned the first man, but the Davie’s hottest stick – Potts – singled to left. Four pitches later, Potts stole second. The next man was the 10th strikeout victim of the night, but when Carson Queen reached on an error, Davie had runners at the corners. The game ended, though, on three straight swinging strikes.

Berg threw 57 of 83 pitches for strikes, posted his third complete game and left with a fantastic ERA of 1.80. But he couldn’t quite prevent the ninth straight win for Glenn (16-8).

“Connor threw great,” Anderson said. “It’s one of the best games I’ve seen him throw. He controlled the zone.”

Notes

• Potts went 2 for 4. James and Krause both went 1-3. McBride was 1-4.

• In an upset that was rather shocking, No. 6 Mt. Tabor knocked off No. 3 East Forsyth 12-4 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Glenn kept its magic going and shaved No. 1 Reagan by one. In the final, West Forsyth blew out Glenn.

• Just when it seemed the 22nd-seeded War Eagles were going nowhere fast, they pulled out a mind-numbing 3-2 win in 12 innings at Watauga in the first round of the 4-A playoffs on May 7. Despite coming in with just 16 at-bats for the season, Corbin Angus paced Davie with two hits. Allen doubled as a pinch hitter; Potts was clutch at the plate and in the outfield; McBride scored the winning run on a wild pitch; and Braeden Rodgers and Berg pitched like crazy for six and 5.2 innings, respectively.

• In the second round at Cox Mill on May 10, the War Eagles went off for 13 hits, led by three, two and then by two again, and gave their sixth-seeded opponent all they wanted before falling short 11-9. With their top two arms (Rodgers/Berg) unavailable to throw, the 20-win Chargers proved too difficult to contain. Stories on both playoff games will appear next week.