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Fred T. Foard shortstop Braxton Tramel, left, puts the tag on North Lincoln’s Trace Dlugolenski during Friday night’s game in Newton. Tramel had two hits including a two-run home run in the Tigers’ 7-3 loss to the Knights.
NEWTON — This past Tuesday, the Fred T. Foard baseball team handed East Lincoln its first loss in 2022. But the Tigers were unable to carry their momentum into Friday night’s game against visiting North Lincoln.
Foard fell behind early and never caught up, losing 7-3 at the hands of the Knights, who improved to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in Western Foothills 3A Conference play. As for the Tigers, they are now 6-2 overall and 4-1 in league contests, tied with North Lincoln for second place behind conference-leading St. Stephens (9-0, 5-0 Western Foothills 3A).
“I thought we had a big win Tuesday and we came out a little flat,” Foard coach Channon Vogel said. “Pitchers were walking batters, put a lot of guys on. I don’t think they necessarily really beat us, we kind of beat ourselves. We just didn’t have a lot of fire, I don’t know if we spent all our energy on Tuesday or not.
“It’s gonna be a battle (in the Western Foothills 3A), they’re a good team,” he added of North Lincoln. “… The top four teams in our conference are battling head-to-head this week (St. Stephens defeated East Lincoln 6-5 on Friday), so it’s gonna work itself out. It’s a marathon and not a sprint, but we definitely didn’t play sharp tonight.”
North Lincoln’s Matt Heavner — a North Carolina State commit — walked to begin the game before Jack Wuerdeman sacrificed him to second. After Heavner stole third, Maddux Walker singled through the left side to score the first run of the night. Courtesy runner Jack Waggoner advanced all the way to third on an infield single from Kellen Karr and a subsequent throwing error, while Landon Reeves plated Waggoner on a groundout to short.
After the Tigers left the bases loaded in the bottom of the first inning, North Lincoln added another run in the top of the second. Reece Moody walked with one out and Heavner brought him home with a two-out double into the left-field gap.
Foard finally got on the board in the fourth. Kylan Bolick led off with a single, made it to third on a double from Blake Powell and scored on Josh Swink’s groundout to second.
The Knights responded with a three spot in the fifth. Reeves registered an RBI single following a leadoff single from Walker and a walk to Karr, while a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly to left from Josh Fox allowed North Lincoln’s fifth and sixth runs to cross the plate.
The Tigers used the long ball to cut into the deficit in their half of the fifth. Hayden Tabor blooped a single to center to start the frame, with a two-out, two-run home run from Braxton Tramel bringing Foard within three runs at 6-3.
North Lincoln quickly countered with an insurance run in the seventh when Reeves tripled over the center fielder’s head and scored on a high throw to third that sailed out of play. Heavner then took over for Karr on the mound and struck out the first three batters he faced — one reached on a dropped third strike — before inducing a groundout to third to end the night.
Speaking of Karr, he allowed three runs on five hits with six strikeouts and three walks in six innings. The freshman left-hander stands 6-foot-5, and Vogel was impressed with how he pitched.
“The freshman did well, he mixed it well,” said Vogel. “We had good at-bats, we had opportunities, we just didn’t get the big hit that we needed in the right spot. But they (North Lincoln’s pitchers) did well.”
On the other side, Foard starting pitcher Swink tossed the first two innings before being replaced by Zac Martin. Following two innings from Martin, Evan Davidson covered the final three frames for the Tigers, who totaled six strikeouts against seven walks during Friday’s contest.
Additionally, North Lincoln outhit Foard 7-6 behind two hits apiece from Walker and Reeves and one each from Heavner, Karr and Moody. The Knights also benefited from three errors by the Tigers, who got two hits each from Tabor and Tramel and one apiece from Powell and Lane Essary.
“We’ve just got to be more consistent on the mound, we’ve got to throw strikes and have teams beat us,” said Vogel. “We can’t walk players and give them extra at-bats and extra outs. You walk three or four and then give them three or four errors, that’s three extra innings they get to play that we don’t, so you can’t have that against this quality of opponents.
“But it’s gonna be a fun season, we’ve got a long way to go to decide what’s gonna happen,” he continued. “So we’ll be back and forth all season and we should be there in the end.”
Foard travels to Hickory on Tuesday before stepping out of conference play for a road game against Maiden on Wednesday, while North Lincoln is at league foe West Iredell on Tuesday before visiting nonconference West Lincoln on Wednesday.
North Lincoln;210;030;1;—;7;7;1
Fred T. Foard;000;120;0;—;3;6;3
WP: Kellen Karr
LP: Josh Swink
Josh McKinney is the sports editor for the Hickory Daily Record.
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