Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

A 14-2 home loss to Rowan County on June 1 was part of a horrific stretch for the Mocksville Senior Legion baseball team, the 1-6 tailspin including three defeats by 10-plus runs.
But Mocksville shook the feeling of starting 1-6 off in the division opener at Swines, with Post 174 winning 18-8.
Against Rowan, though, everything went poorly for Mocksville, which was outhit 13-4 and watched three of its four pitchers get knocked around.
The bright spot was Hunter Daywalt, who went 2 for 3 with a homer and also pitched a scoreless inning as the fourth Mocksville hurler. Mocksville had two home runs through seven games, and both belonged to Daywalt.
David Thiel (1-2) and Joseph Johnson (1-1) both had one hit.
Mocksville 18, Swines 8
One night later in the first game that really counted, Mocksville needed four pitchers to navigate six innings and it committed seven errors. But it put the hammer down with an eight-run sixth, and coach Mike Lovelace will take any kind of win anytime he can get it.
“Twenty-one walks and hit by pitches, 312 pitches in 6 innings (between both teams) and 2 hours, 38 minutes,” Lovelace said. “Man, that is 50 pitches an inning. We had almost as many errors as hits.”
But Mocksville did step up its offensive game after arriving with an average of 3.5 runs per game. It was 5-5 before its five-run fourth. Swines rallied back to within 10-8, but Mocksville put the Swines away with authority in the top of the sixth.
Swines aided the sixth-inning rally for sure. After the first two batters were beaned, a new pitcher promptly walked four straight guys. The seventh batter of the inning made the first out, but Joseph Johnson singled, the Swines hit a batter for the third time in the inning and then Mocksville got a sac fly. Jonus Johnson’s two-run double capped the 12-batter assault.
The game was stopped by the mercy rule when Mocksville right fielder Brayden Carter helped the visitors cut down a runner at home for the game’s final out.
“Carter throws and (first baseman) Thiel cuts it and somehow gets it to (catcher Jordan) Turner,” Lovelace said. “And (the plate umpire) punches the guy out or we would still be playing.”
Mocksville had 15 walks/hit by pitches to go with 10 hits. Manny Morales (2-4, walk) and Thiel (2-3, two doubles, two walks) were the offensive leaders. It got one hit from Turner (1-3, two walks), Carter (1-4, walk), Joseph Johnson (1-4, walk), Noah Owens (1-4, HBP), Ryan Williams (1-3, HBP) and Jonus Johnson (1-3, three RBIs).
No one had a better at-bat than Thiel’s in the sixth. He fouled off five pitches and walked on the 10th pitch.
“It was an unbelievable at-bat,” Lovelace said. “This guy is a sophomore in high school, just eating baseballs.”
The win, however, came with a heavy cost. Daywalt was hit by a pitch twice, the second one likely ending his season. What a bummer for a guy who was off to a terrific start. He was hitting .421 (8 for 19) with both of Mocksville’s homers. He was first in walks/HBPs with six; second in average and hits; and tied for second in RBIs with seven. He was playing shortstop, batting in the top half of the order and being used as a relief pitcher.
“Hunter had to go to the emergency room,” Lovelace said. “He got hit with a fastball in the face. He got hit square under the eye. He got hit by a pitch on the first pitch of the game, and then he got hit again. He was going to be one of my pitchers. He threw well against Rowan.”
Notes: At game’s end, Thiel was hitting a torrid .526 (10-19). … The pitching-thin Swines dropped to 0-3, including 10-9 and 14-13 setbacks to Wilkes County. “This (new) team is freshmen and sophomores; they’ve got 11 players,” Lovelace said. … Tucker Hobbs, the second of four Mocksville pitchers, got the win after working 1.1 scoreless innings. Owens, who gave up one unearned run in two innings, got the save.