Hough  5 Myers Park  7

NCHSAA State Playoffs - 4A 1st Round

Myers Park overcame two separate deficits in the 1st round game to advance in the NCHSAA 4A State Tournament.  Senior RHP Luke McGrath gave up a 2 run HR in the 1st to Hough FR Jaxon Matthews, but bounced back to throw 5 solid innings, leaving with a 4-2 lead.

In the 6th, with one out, relief arm William Greenway induced a 5-4-3 double play ground ball to end the frame but the ball was dropped at 1B, extending the inning.  A competitive at-bat walk was followed by an intentional walk to Matthews to load the bases.  Mustangs closer, Jim Johnson was called on to shut the inning down, but Jake Minarik turned a slider around, hammering it to the left field wall, scoring all three base runners.

The Myers Park offense would immediately answer, getting runners to 2nd and 3rd with one out after 2 walks and a SAC bunt.  After a strikeout, McGrath earned a walk to load the bases.  The next three Mustang hitters would each work the count to 3-2 before earning walks, giving the Mustangs a 7-5 lead.

Johnson would give up a leadoff single in the 7th before inducing two pop ups and a strikeout to end the game.  Myers Park advances to round two where they will face Weddington HS on Friday.

Hough Stats
+ Jaxon Matthews - 1-1, HR, 2R, 2RBI, 3BB
+ Jake Minarik - 1-3, 2B, 3RBI

+ J Funderburk - 2-4

+ Tyler Baird - ND, 2.2IP, 5H, 2R, 1ER, 3BB, 1K
+ J Greene - 1IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 0K

+ A Eddy - 1IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 0K
+ H Phillips - Loss, 0.2IP, 0H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 1K

+ James Nesta - 0.1IP, 0H, 1R, 1ER, 3BB, 1K

Myers Park Stats
+ Schmidly - 1-3, 2B, 1R, 1RBI
+ Daniel Shuta - 1-3

+ Luke McGrath - 1-2, 2B, 2R

+ Peter Perez - 1-2, 2R, 1RBI

+ Jones - 1-2, 1R, 1RBI
+ Luke McGrath - 5IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 5BB, 5K
+ William Greenway - 0.2IP, 1H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 1K

+ Joe Johnson - Win, 1.1IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 1K

SCOUT BLOG

Tyler Baird, RHP, Hough HS, 2025
Righty was back on the mound after a little down time.  While a little rusty from lack of game action he still flashed a fastball up to