Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

Luis Sanchez, who entered the June 29 home game against Davidson County Swine with two hits in 13 at-bats, stole the show with a monster performance in a 6-5 victory that stopped the Mocksville Senior Legion baseball team’s losing streak at 10.
Not only did Sanchez go 4 for 5 and knock in three runs, he made a diving catch in left field. He made coach Mike Lovelace look like a genius for batting him in the leadoff spot for the first time.
“Sanchez has had some great at-bats,” Lovelace said of the Northeast Guilford graduate who is about to join a JUCO program in Georgia. “He hit .335 in high school. We only had 12 players and I just decided to move him up there (to leadoff), and he played left field and he had never played the outfield. He made a diving catch and saved two runs. He’s just a hard-working kid.”
Mocksville finally flipped the script after losing the other four one-run games it has been involved in.
Mocksville carved out a 4-1 lead, but Swine refused to go away, scoring four in the fifth on four hits and two walks. Post 174 was down for the first time in the game, but it quickly fought back to a 5-5 tie in its half of the fifth. Jonus Johnson walked with one out and Ryan Robinson greeted a new pitcher with a single. Johnson scored on a Sanchez hit.
Swine had baserunners everywhere in the sixth, but came away empty-handed as Mocksville got two unconventional outs. The first batter of the inning singled but was caught trying to steal second. The rundown that began with catcher Jordan Turner’s laser throw went 2-4-3-6-4.
Mocksville was in trouble when the next three batters walked. Lovelace pulled his pitcher and summoned his fourth arm of the night – Robinson. The runner from third broke toward home on a suicide-squeeze play. The pitch was in the dirt, but Turner smothered it. He fired to third baseman James Spencer, who relayed to a covering Robinson for the second out. Then Robinson retired the next batter to preserve the 5-5 tie.
“Turner picked it out of the dirt, and when he did, the runner (from third) stopped halfway,” Lovelace said.
Ryan Williams’ leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh ignited the winning rally. Jonus Johnson followed with a sac bunt, and moments later Williams took third on a wild pitch. He was now 90 feet away from giving Mocksville its first win in 25 days. It happened when the shortstop errored Sanchez’s groundball.
“We finally got a bunt down,” Lovelace said. “A ball was hit to the shortstop and the shortstop had made all five plays. He threw it away.”
The first win since June 4 evened the season series at 2-2; Swine had won the previous two meetings.
“In (Sanchez’s) last at-bat to win it, he was down 1-2,” Lovelace said. “He fouled one off against their good lefthander. He had two at-bats like that. (Earlier) he had a single with two strikes after fouling off three in an eight-pitch at-bat.”
While Sanchez raised his average 180 points from .153 to .333, Joseph Johnson went 2 for 4, extended his hitting streak to five games and bumped his season average to .395. Joseph is one of the two Lumberjacks, the other half being twin brother Jonus. The nickname was given to them by PA man Charles Kurfees. The Elkin boys’ work ethic is truly unbelievable.
“They are two of the hardest working young men I’ve ever seen,” Lovelace said. “They get up at five in the morning and start working. If they can’t get on a game field, they’re on a practice field taking ground balls and hitting tennis balls. They work seven days a week.”
Spencer had Mocksville’s only error on the night, but he’s been otherwise stellar in the field and at the plate – not to mention his strong pitching three nights earlier in a 3-2 loss at High Point. He’s a Southwest Guilford graduate who will continue his baseball career at Guilford Tech.
“He is having a helluva summer,” Lovelace said. “He made a big error at third – he threw it down in their bullpen – but other than that he’s made three or four outstanding plays. He was 86-88 (mph) on the mound the other day. He’s been a blessing. I’m thinking about moving him to the three-hole; that’s how well he is hitting it.”
David Thiel (1-4, two RBIs), Williams (1-2, walk) and Robinson (1-3, two runs) helped Mocksville outhit the Swine 9-8. Although Spencer and Jonus Johnson did not get a hit, both had two walks.
Give credit to starter Connor Kennedy (five innings, eight Ks) and Robinson, who recorded the last five outs without allowing a run. Not bad for two guys who had barely pitched all year. Kennedy’s only previous mound appearance was for 2.1 innings in a 16-1 loss to the Davidson County Hawgs, and Robinson had logged two innings in the first 19 games.
“Connor was really throwing it well, but the third time through they were sitting on fastballs and he left some balls up,” Lovelace said. “But he did what we needed him to do. Robinson made some quality pitches.”
Notes: The final regular-season game was inconsequential in the standings, and the result was an unsightly 16-1 home loss to High Point on July 3. Sanchez (1-2, walk), Spencer (1-2) and Noah Owens (1-1, walk) had Mocksville’s three hits. High Point (16-5 overall) collected 12 hits off six Mocksville hurlers. … Mocksville lost all four meetings with High Point. … The Area III Division I standings: High Point 9-1, Davidson County Hawgs 9-3, Swine 2-9, Mocksville 2-10. … Mocksville was swept two games to none in the first round of the playoffs by the Hawgs. The Game One loss at Davidson on Saturday was a 6-5 gut punch. Mocksville scored four in the top of the seventh to close within one, but the potential tying run was thrown out at the plate to end the game. Game two Sunday at Rich Park was a mauling as the Hawgs won 18-6 to end Mocksville’s season at 4-19. A story on the playoff games will be in next week’s edition.