Jackets nip Cavaliers in classic pitcher's duel

The contest was a masterclass in pitching by both Swann, one of nine Jacket seniors honored before the game; and Southern’s Christian Cox, each of whom allowed just five hits. The deciding half-inning was, like some other moments during the night, a close-run battle. Landon Miles opened it by bouncing a 1-2 pitch through the left side of the infield for a single. Cox, whose control had been outstanding throughout the night, then hit Drew Stanfield with a pitch to move Miles up.

With Will Rannells at bat, a pitch got past Southern catcher Luke Waters for passed ball and both runners advanced. Rannells hit a grounder that Cole Faulk fielded on the infield grass, checked Miles back to third, and threw Faulk out at first.

Southern head coach Tommy Harrington gambled on creating a force at any base and intentionally walked Swann, loading the bases. However, McDonald hit a long fly ball into right field which easily scored Miles, despite Cooper Moss’ best efforts on a long throw home. Cox whiffed Austin Ragan to end the inning, but the damage had been done.

Swann, who had high pitch counts early in the game, had a 1-2-3 top of the seventh to end it, striking out the last two batters he faced. He threw 108 pitches, 69 of them for strikes. He struck out six and walked two.

Cox was nearly as good, allowing five hits with five strikeouts and only two unintentional walks, both to Luke Sheets. He threw 85 pitches in six innings, 57 of them for strikes.

In the 30 prior meetings documented by MaxPreps between the Cavaliers and Yellow Jackets prior to Wednesday, the two schools were tied at 15 wins each. But none of them had ever ended with a final score of 1-0. The closest was a game on April 28, 2022, where Lee’s Presley Patterson and Nick Pope combined to beat Cooper Harrington and Pierce Bouwman, 2-0. All four of those pitchers are now playing college baseball. Southern won a conference tournament game 2-1 on May 5, 2017.

The win takes the 3A playoff race in the Sandhills Athletic Conference down to the final day, with the teams playing the rematch Thursday night after press time for this issue. Lee’s win, coupled with a 4-1 win by Pinecrest over Union Pines, makes the Patriots the overall SAC champion this season. However, the race to be the top 3A team remains open. If the Cavaliers (14-8, 7-4) won Thursday night, it goes to them. But if Lee (11-12, 6-5) won again, there is a three-way tie between those teams and Scotland (12-10, 7-5). In that case, each team will have beaten the others in a circle, 0-2 or 2-0 against the others. All three teams are likely to be high enough in the NCHSAA RPI to make the playoffs, regardless of the outcome of Thursday’s game.

Each team mounted a few other threats in Wednesday’s game, but the pitchers were up to the challenge. Bryan McCollum and Spencer Stephens had back-to-back hits off Swann in the first inning, but McCollum was thrown out by Miles trying to steal second base. Moss walked with two outs, but Swann retired Mike Blanks to end the inning.

Miles and Drew Stanfield then had back-to-back hits off Cox in the bottom of the first, but Rannells hit a liner right to first baseman Ben Harrington, who doubled Stanfield off to end the inning.

Over the next few innings, neither team could get more than one runner on base, if that. Lee shortstop Stanfield made a strong defensive play on a can-of-corn fly ball into short left field with one out in the fourth, after Blanks had drawn a walk. Rannells singled in the Jackets’ half of the fourth and Swann sacrificed him to second, likely beating it for a hit if not for a good defensive play by Stephens at third. But Cox had two straight strikeouts to end the threat.

In the Southern Lee half of the sixth, Stephens and Blanks had singles to put two on with two out, but the Cavaliers were unable to capitalize on their last threat of the night.