North Duplin denies Spring Creek share of Carolina 1A baseball title

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on May 9, 2014 1:48 PM

• Print
• Email

aetzler@newsargus.com

CALYPSO -- North Duplin pitcher Trey Pate gets sick to his stomach every time he sees a bloop single drop into the shallow outfield.

He had that same feeling Thursday night when Spring Creek had the game-tying run on base in the top of the sixth inning and Hunter Walker hit a blooper just over the first baseman's head.

Then second baseman Blake Rhodes came out of nowhere and made a diving catch to end the inning and the Spring Creek threat. Rhodes' play saved the game and the Rebels spoiled the Gators' chances to share the Carolina 1-A Conference title with a 2-1 victory.

The loss gave Rosewood the outright championship.

"I've always wanted make to make a catch like that," Rhodes said. "Out behind first base in front of the fans down the side. It was even cooler in front of the home fans and that it saved that game."

Left-handers Pate and Logan Miler started on the mound for their respective teams. Neither one had his best stuff, but both battled and got help from the defense.

Miller conceded the game's first run in the third inning when Charlie Mac Holloman doubled, and eventually scored on two wild pitches. One inning later, Bryce Best hit a lead-off triple down the right-field line.

Pate's sacrifice fly to center field scored Best, which proved to be the eventual game-winning run.

In the sixth, Spring Creek fought back and scored after Will Rouse and Matt Rogers hit back-to-back two-out doubles to break up the shutout. Then Rhodes made the play that sealed the game.

Spring Creek lead-off man Mason Karkay walked. The Gators failed to execute a sacrifice bunt and Miller grounded out to third.

With two outs, Sawyer Smith hit a slow chopper that looked like he may have a chance to beat out. But five steps out of the box he stumbled and fell to the ground, which turned a tough play into an easy out.

Pate finished with eight strikeouts and kept Spring Creek from squaring up the baseball all night. He allowed four hits.

"We haven't seen a pitcher as tall as he is," Gators coach Heath Whitfield said. "He's able to throw down hill like that with his height and get more velocity. Our guys haven't seen someone throw that hard from that angle this year."

The second-seeded Gators and third-seeded Rebels open the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs either next Tuesday or Wednesday. Each has a different approach to the postseason.

"We've got to get back to work," Whitfield said. "We're going to try and fix these things. We have to."

"We've been pretty hot of late," North Duplin coach James Hobbs said. "We've played good ball -- even our last loss was only by one run in a game we could have won -- we've got to try and keep that going."