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By Brian Pitts
Davie Enterprise Record

A look back at the Davie baseball team’s historic 1991 season …
Tony Renegar and Eric Presnell were workhorses with pinpoint command. The pitchers had a richly talented defense behind them. A menacing offense was full of line-drive hitters.
A team of 12 seniors, four juniors and three sophomores blazed a trail to the most wins (18-5 record) in Davie’s 35-year history.
The 1987-89 squads set a high standard by winning at least a share of three straight CPC championships. The War Eagles declined quite a bit in 1990, going 8-15, but a flamboyant, tight-knit 1991 club restored order and ignited another 3-peat. Davie would claim the CPC in 1991, 1992 and 1993, giving coach Dave Hunt six league titles in seven years.
The ‘91 bunch returned eight of nine starters from ‘90, the only exception slugger Matt Marion. But the ‘91 season began with a dud as Davie spotted North Davidson a 6-0 lead before watching its comeback fall short, 6-4.
But Davie responded with a six-game winning streak, starting with a 3-1 win at Central Davidson. With the game tied at 1, Davie pushed two across in the top of the seventh, when Brent Wall’s single plated Jamey Reeves. After Jay Hutchins singled, Wall scored on an error. Sophomore Darby Correll (four innings, one run) and Renegar (three scoreless innings) provided strong pitching. But Davie did suffer an injury that all but cost Joey Sloan his senior year. He broke a bone in his hand on a hit by pitch. The outfielder returned late in the year but only saw 25 at-bats.
But this team didn’t lack balance, and it was next man up for the War Eagles. In the CPC opener, they punished Parkland 13-3. They got payback on North Davidson, scoring five runs in the first and coasting home 7-4.
The War Eagles trailed Dudley 3-2 after three, but they rallied for a 6-4 win as Renegar went the distance on the hill and Hutchins banged three of Davie’s 11 hits. Davie got two hits from Alex Nail, Allan Chapman, Randy Brewer and Wall.
After giving up three runs in the first, Presnell delivered six scoreless innings as Davie edged Central Davidson 4-3. Patrick Murphy and Bryan Johnson, who quickly introduced himself to the county after moving in before the school year, had two hits apiece. “Johnson’s only a sophomore, but he swings a good stick,” Hunt said. “He gave us a spark.”
Davie went 2-1 in the Metrolina Easter Tournament. After blowing out Harding, it squandered a 5-1 lead in a 12-5, eight-inning loss to Richmond County. Then it dispatched Myers Park 10-5. Reeves entered the tournament with a .133 batting average, but left with a .296 mark.
There was no mercy rule in these days, and visiting Davie sledgehammered Mt. Tabor 16-0. After failing to homer in the first nine games, Davie launched three bombs in this one (Brewer, Hutchins and Reeves). Renegar hurled a five-hitter and Chapman collected three hits. “I played everybody I had,” Hunt said. “The dogs were called off.”
Davie and Reynolds were both 3-0 in the CPC when they met, but the Demons wilted immediately as ace pitcher Graham Long was ejected in the first inning for cursing the umpire after a bang-bang play at the plate went Davie’s way. Chapman cracked a grand slam to score Hutchins, Chad Correll and Wall as Davie romped 9-2.
“He went berserk,” Hunt said. “With Long on the mound, Reynolds can beat anybody. He had 15 strikeouts against Grimsley.”
The next game was a golden moment, an 8-6 win at West Forsyth that lifted Davie to 5-0 in the CPC and dealt the Titans their first loss. Now the War Eagles were certain they could do something special.
“There’s still a long way to go,” Renegar said after pitching a five-hitter for six innings. “We still have to play everybody one game at a time. But this was a big game.”
In the third, Brewer launched a solo homer to left and Wall delivered a two-strike, two-run single as Davie seized a 4-1 lead. West stormed back in the bottom half. It was 4-4 with West looking for more. But Renegar caught a liner and doubled up a runner to end the inning.
“That was self-defense,” he said. “If I hadn’t caught it, I’d have lost about six teeth.”
“Tony’s play ended up being the big one,” Hunt said. “It stopped their momentum.”
An essential contributor was Reeves, a powerful lefty who blasted a two-out, three-run homer to right to give the visitors a 7-4 lead.
“The pitch was chest-high and Reeves tattooed it,” Hunt said.
The War Eagles led 8-4 going into the bottom of the seventh, but West did not go quietly. It was 8-6 with two on, no outs and leadoff man Gray Bovender up when Jason Horne relieved Renegar. Horne caught Bovender looking at strike three, and second baseman Chapman turned an unassisted double play to end the game.
“We thought we could be in this position if our pitching held up, and so far it has,” Hunt said.
Presnell turned in a three-hitter and Chapman, Nail and Wall combined for seven hits as Davie brushed aside Parkland 6-2.
It was a struggle but Davie found a way to beat Grimsley 3-1. Renegar worked seven innings without issuing a walk and Davie scratched out two runs in the seventh. After Chapman and Brewer got on with walks, Nail and Gary Blalock had back-to-back hits. It was the third hit of the game for Blalock.
Although Dudley was in last place, facing Damon Newman, a flame-throwing righthander who attracted pro scouts every time out, was like looking directly into the sun. Davie survived a scare, winning 3-2 in eight innings after having two runners thrown out at home.
Down 2-0, Davie had to rally in the bottom of the seventh. Nail singled, Chapman walked and Brewer singled to load the bases. With two outs, Reeves saved the day with a game-tying double.
“Dudley is a different team with (Newman) out there,” Hunt said.
Newman was done after seven and Davie walked it off in the eighth. Blalock singled and was replaced by pinch-runner Renegar. Sloan, who was back from the injury, laid down a sac bunt. No one covered third, so Renegar scampered from first to third. Wall hit a chopper to short and Renegar dove across the plate to make Davie 9-0 in the CPC. Keith Koontz and Horne pitched four innings each as Davie won for the 14th time in 16 games.
Grimsley pounded West 8-0, so Davie remained in first despite a 3-2 home loss to the Titans. Davie took a 2-1 lead in the sixth on Blalock’s sac fly, but Chapman was called out at home when he tried to score on a wild pitch and Bovender hit a two-run homer in the seventh as Davie absorbed its first CPC setback.
When Davie hosted Grimsley, it was opposed by a gifted lefty, Jim Burgess, who had signed with Appalachian State. Burgess offset six walks by tossing a three-hitter and racking up 13 Ks. But the War Eagles walked away with a 3-0 victory that secured the outright title in the CPC. Presnell rose to the occasion with a one-hitter. Hutchins came through with two hits and a fifth-inning catch as he crashed into the wall to preserve a 1-0 lead.
“Jay is the best defensive center fielder in our league,” Hunt said. “The 12-1 record is the best we’ve ever had in the conference.”
On Senior Day, the War Eagles ran roughshod over Tabor, 18-4. Blalock doubled, tripled and homered. Nail and Reeves also had three hits as Davie finished 13-1 in the CPC.
That was the record-breaking win. The then-record for wins at Davie was 17 by the ‘87 and ‘89 teams. (The current record is 24 from 2006.)
The ‘91 War Eagles carved out their place in the history books, but the first round of the 4-A playoffs resulted in a heartbreaking missed opportunity. A 6-3 home loss to Hunter Huss was a raging fluke. The Huskies came in 12-10 after finishing third in their conference, they were making their first playoff appearance in 11 years and Davie held a 3-1 lead going into the top of the seventh. But the one-trick-pony Huskies had lefty Matt Ghorley, who entered 9-3 with a 1.70 ERA, and they saw Davie unravel in the seventh and stole a 6-3 decision.
“The kids hurt,” Hunt said. “But this one game should not take away from a fine, fine year. We knew they were a one-pitcher team, and we happened to get that one pitcher. He kept us offbalanced throughout the game.”
Davie would have faced juggernaut Glenn in the second round. The Bobcats ousted Hunter Huss 5-1 and ran their record to 25-0.
“There are 32 teams in the playoffs and only one will remember how it ended,” Hunt said. “That’s the team that wins it. Thirty-one others will be like us.”
The 12 seniors were Renegar, Nail, Chapman, Reeves, Brian Pitts, Murphy, Blalock, Sloan, Hutchins, C. Correll, Wall and Neal Cornatzer. The juniors were Brewer, Horne, Scott Whitaker and Presnell. The sophomores were D. Correll, Johnson and Koontz.
The top batting averages: Brewer .393, Nail .388, Blalock .338, Chapman .324, Johnson .321. Reeves cranked a team-high three homers. The RBI leaders were Blalock (19), Reeves (17) and Chapman (16). With a .567 on-base percentage, Chapman was named CPC Player of the Year.
“He turns the double play with as much success as anyone since I’ve been at Davie,” Hunt said. “He made only one error all season.”
Renegar, the lanky righthander who could not stand losing, went 8-3 with a 2.98 ERA and 55 Ks in 63.1 innings. He hurled 131.2 innings in 1990-91, put up 13 wins in two years and tied for third in single-season wins (John Parker 11-0 in 1965, Grimes Parker 9-1 in 1963, Paul Ijames 8-2 in 1971). He’s now tied for eighth on the list. But ‘91 Davie wouldn’t have gone anywhere without Presnell, who was 4-1 with a 1.79 ERA over 47 innings.
“Talking about one game is unfair, especially after the effort they put forth this year,” Hunt said. “They did more than was predicted.”