DEACON JONES INVITATIONAL: Whitfield disappointed with Gators' effort

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 1, 2016 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

PRINCETON -- Spring Creek head coach Heath Whitfield leaned over the right-field fence as Princeton took infield-outfield warm-ups before the championship game of the Deacon Jones Invitational on Thursday evening.

The frustration his face told the story.

One game got away from the Gators.

The other appeared to be a "go through the motions" effort that added more fuel to an already aggravated and disappointed Whitfield.

"(North Johnston) is just the thing that gets me," said Whitfield of the 5-4, nine-inning loss. "As bad as we played and as much as we tried to give it to them, we should have won it."

The Gators (7-5 overall) squandered a four-run lead, committed nine errors defensively and left nine men on base -- including leaving the sacks loaded in the bottom of the ninth with two outs.

Right-hander Steven Worley induced a game-ending groundout to propel North Johnston into the DJI championship for the third consecutive year, and just the fourth time overall since 2004.

Whitfield just shook his head.

"We had chances," he said.

Spring Creek bounced back to defeat first-year DJI participant Cape Hatteras, 11-2, in the third-place game. The pitching duo of starter Landon Smothers and reliever Austin Reynolds combined for a three-hitter.

Smothers gave up two first-inning unearned runs. The right-hander retired 15 of the next 17 batters he faced before Reynolds took over on the bump. He retired three Hurricanes on strikeouts and permitted one runner to reach base.

"Landon, I'm sure he was a little bit nervous the first inning and the defense didn't help him any," Whitfield said. "Once he started getting ahead (in the count) and pitching to contact a little bit, he was fine. Reynolds is sort of a project right now. Today is the best he's looked.

"If he gets a little bit smarter, learns the ropes a little bit, then maybe he can help us -- if not this year, then hopefully next year."

Levi Miller, who earned a spot on the DJI all-tournament team, led the Gators' offense with two hits and an RBI. Hunter Walker, Sawyer Smith (two RBI), Will Rouse and Casey Whitfield provided one hit apiece.

One of two teams remaining in Carolina 1-A Conference play, Spring Creek is the guest of Rosewood next Tuesday. The Eagles are coming off a 1-2 showing in the Golden Leaf Invitational that included two extra-inning losses -- one each against Big East 3-A members Northern Nash and Rocky Mount.

Whitfield said his team must forget these two games.

"We'll just try to move on from this," he said.