Hoggard Hammers New Bern, Vikings Advance In NCHSAA Playoffs

"A New Bern paper said we were a 'mediocre team, with a lot of confidence.' We wanted to prove them wrong. We had it posted in the locker room," Hoggard's Scotty Braswell told the Cape Fear Sports Report. In response to the bulletin board material, the Corbin Field Crushers put out another offensive display Tuesday in round two of the NCHSAA playoffs and blasted New Bern 13-7.

Hoggard's Scott Coleman must have thought he was hitting driver off the 19th tee in the bottom of the first; shortly after getting off the bus from Pinehurst at the state golf championships Coleman, launched a colossal two run bomb, giving Hoggard an early 2-0 lead.

New Bern scratched for a run in the top of the second, but Hoggard opened up a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the inning, capped by a Nick Maulter dinger.

After New Bern worked a lead off walk in the top of the third, left fielder Scotty Braswell made a lovely diving catch - so good that at least five minutes and several batters later, when a young girl's father said, "C'mon let's go" her retort was, "Daddy, that was a good catch!" - it was totally out of the blue. But the Bears were not to be denied and made what would be their final stand.

With two outs and the bases loaded, Hoggard starting pitcher Derek Thackston was one pitch away from getting out of the inning. However, with a full count, he missed the strike zone and walked in a run. While looking strong on the hill, the Bears didn't make great contact against Thackston, but after two singles back through the middle, New Bern had tied the score at five.

But that would be the last run Thackston would allow saying, "I felt good. I got tired in the sixth, but I kept working off my fastball and my outpitch was my curve."

While Thackston cruised through the middle innings, the Hoggard bats got it going again in the bottom of the fourth. With the sacks full, Cuppy Robinson singled, and after a wild throw, three runners had scored, Robinson stood on third, and Hoggard led 8-5.

The wild throw thing...that became a disturbing trend and certainly became Bad News for the Bears.
After committing eight errors in the first five innings, Scott Coleman's double plated two more runs to cap a three run fifth.

Between the errant New Bern throws and the hot Hoggard bats, a 5-5 tie became a 12-5 lead for the Vikings.
As if his day wasn't long enough already, Coleman came in to finish the game on the bump for Hoggard. In one day, he went to Pinehurst and helped the Viking golf team finish seventh in the state, came back to Wilmington for the NCHSAA playoff baseball game where he starred at the plate and struck out the game's final batter. A fitting end.

Scott Johnson's no-doubter in the sixth was Hoggard's third homerun of the game and while the Vikings showed they can play long ball, Coach St. Ledger complimented his gang for buying into what they had been practicing at the plate - drilling line drives and hitting it where it was pitched. He added, "We wanted to do three things - sticks loud at the plate, gloves, and pitching - and we did all three."

Viking senior Mark Crecco said, "We've been hitting well. In the past two games we have 30 hits." Hoggard will try to continue their hot hitting against Apex in round three, either on Thursday or Friday.

-- Jesse Jones, CAPE FEAR SPORTS REPORT