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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

Mocksville’s Senior Legion baseball team just can’t get over the hump.
Mocksville has taken some serious lumps, losing by 10-15 runs on nine occasions, but when games have been close, the coin flips keep breaking the other way for snake-bitten Mocksville. It has enduring losses of 11-10, 5-4, 4-3 and 3-2.
Last week Post 174 met High Point three times in four days. While the teams are going in two completely different directions, the middle game was close but ultimately gut-wrenching.
High Point 11, Mock 1
High Point smoked through visiting Mocksville on June 24, scoring seven runs in the bottom of the first and holding Post 174 to three hits.
David Thiel and Jordan Turner went 1 for 2, while Joseph Johnson went 1-3. High Point used eight hits and seven walks to end the game early via the mercy rule.
High Point 3, Mock 2
Two nights later, coach Mike Lovelace and visiting Mocksville had an incredibly tough pill to swallow. It had two runners on without any outs in the fifth and sixth and two on with one out in the seventh – but only came away with one run.
It was reminiscent of the other three one-run games Mocksville has played in 2025.
“We couldn’t get two bunts down,” Lovelace said. “We had chances. They made two great plays.”
Mocksville scored in the top of the first without getting a hit. Thiel raced to second on a two-base throwing error. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a wild pitch.
“He’s a base running machine,” Lovelace said.
High Point recovered to build a 3-1 lead, but Mocksville was never out of it because James Spencer was terrific on the mound. He wasn’t perfect – he walked four and beaned three – but it was a gutsy 4.2-inning effort against one of the most formidable squads in Area III.
Spencer battled for 103 pitches and finished with a three-hitter.
“Gosh, he was good,” Lovelace said. “Spencer was dynamite. He’s been better every time out. He gave them seven free runners (with four walks and three hit by pitches). They did not hit a ball hard all night. They did not square one ball up on Spencer. They’ve got six or seven college guys. He punished the strike zone with fastballs and sliders.”
High Point’s pitcher plunked the first two batters in the fifth. Mocksville had a golden opportunity to change a 2-1 deficit, but the next three batters went down on strikes.
Mocksville was actually no-hit for five innings, but Turner opened the sixth with a single and Manny Morales followed with a walk. When Luis Sanchez got a one-out infield hit to load the bases, Mocksville was in business with the score 3-1.
“Sanchez had the at-bat of the game,” Lovelace said. “He’s really come on. He had an eight- or nine-pitch at-bat and then singled. It was a big at-bat for us.”
High Point made a pitching change, and the new arm minimized the damage as Mocksville was held to one run on Ryan Williams’ sac fly.
Ryan Robinson relieved Spencer in the fifth and got out of a bases-loaded jam to keep Mocksville alive. When Robinson walked the first batter of the High Point sixth, Lovelace turned to Brayden Carter. The move worked beautifully as Carter punched out his first man on three pitches. After a walk put runners at first and second, Mocksville turned an amazing double play to keep the score 3-2.
“We turned the most unconventional double play you’ve ever seen,” he said of the 4-3-2 twin killing. “(Second baseman) Sanchez bobbled it and couldn’t get the guy at second. It was bang-bang at first and we got him. Thiel turned and threw a strike to (catcher) Jordan (to cut down a runner who tried to score from second).”
Mocksville threatened again in the seventh. Robinson watched a fullcount pitch miss the strike zone for ball four. With one out, Thiel singled between first and second to push the tying run to second. High Point, though, turned a double play to end the game.
It was a terrible bummer to hold High Point to three hits but still suffer a ninth consecutive loss. Mocksville also had just three hits in a game that lasted one hour, 41 minutes.
“It was a good one,” Lovelace said.
Notes: Hunter Daywalt returned to the field after missing nine games with an injury. He batted leadoff. … Sanchez went 1-3, while Thiel and Turner both went 1-4. Spencer had two walks.
High Point 11, Mock 1
The next day at Rich Park, Mocksville had nothing left in the tank. The onslaught began immediately as High Point (13-4) scored four first-inning runs and cruised to its ninth straight win.
“They have five Division-I arms,” Lovelace said.
Reece Jones, the fourth and final Mocksville pitcher of the night, became the 16th different arm that Lovelace has used this season. Post 174 fell to 3-16 overall and 1-9 in the Northern Division.
On the positive side, Spencer went 2-3 and raised his average to .571 (8-14). Daywalt (1-4), Robinson (1-2, walk), Carter (1-3) and Gabe McMurray (1-2) had the other four hits.
Despite a 10-game slide, Lovelace still believes Mocksville can salvage something from the season. He knows one thing for sure: He’s going to turn over every rock in his attempt to upset High Point or Davidson County in the first round of the playoffs. The best-of-three series begins Saturday.
“We’re gonna be a tough out in the first round,” he said. “We’re getting better. When we show up, we’re at least respectable.”