4 Round 2: Lake Norman at Providence

Lake Norman- 2. Providence- 10

In the second round of the 4A West Playoffs, Providence came out on fire against Lake Norman. Coming in on the momentum of a walkoff win in the opening round against Ragsdale, Providence established themselves early. Jeremy Beamon was on the mound for the Panthers and was stellar as he tossed a three-hit complete game with six strikeouts in the win. Beamon, a 2021 Liberty commit, kept Lake Norman at bay by mixing his pitches well and Lake Norman just could not get comfortable at the plate. Much like in round one, Providence faced pressure from the opposition early on in the first inning. After an error found a Lake Norman base runner on second, Beamon responded with a strikeout to erase the chance for Lake Norman to take an early lead. 

In the bottom half of the inning, Providence erupted for four runs. David Garfinkle set the tone for the inning by leading off with a hard hit line drive right back up the middle. A walk by Jake Knepp then found two Panthers on base with no one out. Garfinkle put pressure on the Wildcats as he attempted to take third base. The throw down to third was a wild one, and the ball soared into left field. Garfinkle and Knepp both came around to score on the play. Immediately following the play, Beamon showed he can do it at the plate as well when he unloaded on a ball to the left field wall for a double. A balk then ensued moving Beamon to third. A Luke Wolff single to center then scored one. Cam Hull came in to run for Wolff (the catcher) and stole second base. A passed ball and a Tommy Walker sac fly plated Hull. 

Lake Norman seemed poised to make a dent in the early Providence lead in the top of the second following a hard hit ground ball by Hunter Sherill that resulted in an error. However, Sherill was caught stealing, crushing the chances of a Lake Norman response. Beamon cruised through the next two hitters picking up a strikeout and then was helped out by a phenomenal play at third by Jake Knepp to end the inning.

The Panthers did not ease up on the pressure in their next turn at bat. Jacob Russak started the inning off with a single to left field. Russak moved up to second on a wild pitch and then another good swing by David Garfinkle resulted in runners at first and third with no one out. Another wild pitch on a Knepp walk scored Russak and advanced Garfinkle. Then yet again an additional wild pitch scored Garfinkle. Beamon showcased another good at bat by putting a run on the board for Providence on a sac fly to left field that scored Knepp. The second consecutive productive inning for the Panthers was put to a halt with a strong throw to cut down a stolen base attempt. 

Lake Norman again was not ready to go down easy and the third inning began with James Botta working a walk. Grayson Peel dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move Botta to second with one out. Harris Dowdy then connected on a ball to right field for a single and Botta advanced to third. Aaron Herbst  reached on a fielder's choice after he grounded a ball to short which was thrown to second to retire Dowdy. On the play, Botta scored to cut the Providence lead to six. Beamon responded to Lake Norman’s first run by picking up another strikeout to end the inning. 

Jared Smith entered the game on the mound in the second inning and seemed to settle in in the third for Lake Norman. He recorded two quick outs, but then walked the bases loaded. He showed the ability to handle adversity and picked up a huge strikeout on a well placed curveball to keep the game from getting out of hand. Beamon also showed that he was more than comfortable on the mound as he continued to work deeper into the game. He made quick work of the Wildcats in the top of the fourth and was helped out by a nice catch made in deep right field by Smith Fairley preventing Lake Norman from cutting deeper into Providence’s early lead.

Dakota Aspinwall entered the game for Lake Norman and shut Providence down in the fourth. He surrendered a walk with two outs, but then picked off the baserunner to end the inning. This seemed to be a key moment in the game as Lake Norman seemed to garner some momentum from the pickoff. James Botta took advantage of this supposed shift in momentum by leading off the fifth with a double. Beamon answered right back by picking up two outs. Aaron Herbst delivered for the Wildcats as he lined a ball to center field scoring Botta. Following this, Beamon picked off Herbst right after his RBI single and just like that the momentum swung back to Providence. 

Aspinwall surrendered a double from Jack Prosser in the bottom of the fifth with one out, but worked his way out of danger giving his team a chance to continue the comeback effort. However, Beamon was dialed in and recorded two strikeouts in the inning to get his team back into the dugout very quickly. Jake Knepp was an on base machine in this one and started the bottom of the sixth by getting hit by a pitch. Beamon reached first on a fielder’s choice where Knepp was thrown out at second. Luke Wolff was then walked which brought on Cam Hull to run for him once again. A balk ensued moving the runners to second and third. On a daring steal of home, Cam Hull slid into the plate just before the tag to add to the lead. Collin McDougall added to the excitement as he unloaded on a ball to deep left center field for a homerun to give the Panthers all the insurance they would need to secure the win.

Beamon remained on the mound in the seventh as he picked up two quick outs and then caught the final out himself to seal the deal. It was an all around effort for Providence with Jeremy Beamon leading the way both on the mound and at the plate. Providence advances to the third round with the win and now will play Northwest Guilford at home on Saturday.