NC Roundup: April 25th

Ledford Take Game 1 in Big Series

The final week of the regular season may bring the biggest regular season matchup of the year with No. 1 Ledford (2A) and No. 4 North Davidson (2A) playing a two game series to decide the Central Carolina 2A Conference Champion.  North Davidson entered with a one game lead on Tuesday.

Both teams ran out good arms, but with decidedly different backgrounds.  Senior RHP Logan Whitaker started for Ledford. The NC State commit is use to pitching with pro scouts and evaluators in the stands.  North Davidson countered with Freshman sensation Merritt Beeker, a player that will soon see a lot of evaluators at his contests.

Both arms looked excited in the early going.  Command was erratic in the first as they settled into their rhythm in front of a big crowd at Ledford HS.  North Davidson jumped on the board with a quick HR to left off the bat of Carson Simpson (SS, 2018). Whitaker worked elevated for most of the inning and Simpson found the barrel, shocking the home crowd.  It would be the only hit Whitaker would allow in six innings of work.

In the home half of the first, the Panthers took advantage of several fastball counts and some wildness from Beeker.  A walk sandwiched two fly ball outs to centerfield in the first. With two outs, Noah Soles (OF, 2019) battled to draw a walk and Will Bethune (1B, 2018) doubled to left, off the wall, scoring Soles and Chris Villaman (LHP/OF, 2019).  Singles from Ayden Holt (OF, 2020) and Avery Cain (C, 2018) also drove in runs and Ledford took a commanding 4-1 lead after 1.

Whitaker settled in after the first, punching 7 of the next 10 hitters faced.  In the 5th, Whitaker’s stuff peaked, touching 88. On the night he struck out 14.  Six ‘Ks’ came looking off of fastballs away while four came off of the breaking ball, swinging.  

Ledford’s offense got into the bullpen in the 5th, scoring one run, and followed it with a four run outburst in the 6th.  The 9-1 win, pulls Ledford into a tie for the Conference lead at 16-1. The two schools finish their two-game set on Friday at North Davidson HS.

Game Summary

PLUS: Full Stats, player evals, and more from this game and two other big games from Wilmington and the Queen City...