Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

Sam Wyrick lost his Davie coaching debut, but that one-run setback was forgotten pretty quickly as Davie’s JV baseball team battered the next two opponents.

The opener against visiting Carson on March 1 was a hard-fought 5-4 loss, a sloppy game that saw both teams commit six errors. The best news: Davie got solid pitching from Craig McBride (5 innings, 3 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts) and Hunter Daywalt (2 innings, 2 hits, no earned runs, 1 walk, 4 Ks).

“The pitching was great,” Wyrick said. “Both of them had a heck of a game.”

Carson had five hits to Davie’s three. Ty Goodson, Will Wands and McBride had the three for the War Eagles, who led 4-3 before Carson scored two in the sixth.

Davie 13, Watauga 2

In a home game on March 2, the War Eagles exploded for seven runs in the first inning. Goodson had two of the five hits in the first.

“After (the loss), I told the guys to be more aggressive at the plate, and everybody was swinging from top to bottom,” Wyrick said. “We had a bunch of hits to the back side, and then I think the hitting was contagious.

“Ty is the kind of guy you want in the leadoff spot. He’s going to be patient at the plate, but when he gets his pitch, he’s going to take advantage of it. He’s a typical leadoff guy.”

Goodson went 2 for 3 with two stolen bases. Bentley Moody knocked in three runs. Dane Porter went 2-3 with three runs, two RBIs and a double. And Larson Stem went 2-2 as Davie outhit the Pioneers 10-4.

“(Porter is) someone who is going to be a big part of our lineup,” Wyrick said. “I think incorporating Larson and Dane into the lineup helped out.”

Connor Berg handled the pitching well, going all five innings and walking none.

“He was dealing, so we let him roll with it,” Wyrick said. “We didn’t know he was going to be a complete-game guy from the way he was talking, but we couldn’t mess anything up the way he was throwing. I expect a lot of things out of him this season.”

Davie made one error, compared to six by Watauga. Wyrick cited second baseman Moody, first baseman Stem and catcher Hunter Potts.

“Bentley started the season at third and we switched him to second,” he said. “I think he’s going to help us a lot there. He’s the kind of guy you can put anywhere.

“Larson made a bunch of plays at first. He caught a couple throws that were high, going up and coming back down with his foot on the bag. He was making tough plays look routine.

“Hunter has been tremendous, blocking balls with the big backstop we have. Any blocked ball is going to save you a base or two.”

Davie 10, West Wilkes 0

The War Eagles followed the same script in the third home game of the week March 4. They scored early and often and got brilliant pitching from Tucker Hobbs.

Davie scored four in the first despite starting with two outs and nobody on. For the game, Porter and McBride both went 2-3.

“Everybody was swinging the bat,” Wyrick said. “Craig knows how to get on base and he’s aggressive on the base paths.”

Hobbs pitched all five innings, gave up one hit, walked one and struck out six. Of his 54 pitches, 41 were strikes. He tossed first-pitch strikes to 12 of 17 batters. Impressive stuff.

“He was absolutely dealing,” Wyrick said. “I mean, you couldn’t ask for a better performance. I’m excited to see what he does moving on from here.”

Varsity coach Joey Anderson added: “Tucker reminds me of Ethan Wilkins. I remember watching Ethan pitch at Oak Grove the day he threw a no-hitter, and that was one of the best games I’ve ever seen pitched. Tucker reminds me a lot of him in how he goes about it. He’s going to be a bright spot for us as long as he keeps improving.”