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Cherryville, NC (WNN) - Cherryville could not have asked for a better start to their baseball season, as they have now won seven games in a row. All games, except one, have been decided by the 10-run rule. The Ironmen are clicking on all cylinders; as a team, they are batting .363, have scored 83 runs, and driven in 67 RBIs. Pitching and fielding have also been lights out as they have only allowed 9 hits, 1 unearned run, and 0 earned runs for a team era of 0.00. The Ironmen are a team that loves to run, having stolen 32 bases in 7 games. Brock Bumgardner has the hottest bat coming in with an average of .500, Parker Anderson is close behind at .474, with Aaron Heavner giving chase at .471 in third. Parker Anderson is almost an automatic base runner, with an on-base percentage of .630, and once on base, he is tied with Kenan Fowler with 7 stolen bases each. The season is still young, and there are plenty of contests left. Cherryville cannot relax with the Burns Bulldogs nipping at their heels. They are also 6-0 in conference play and just narrowly miss out on the tie breakers with Cherryville. Burns has given up only 4 runs this season, and both teams have Stuart Cramer waiting in the wings to try to knock them off, as they have compiled a 4-0 conference record and have given up only 8 runs. The Southern Piedmont Conference race should be an epic battle with Burns and Cherryville on a collision course for a two-game series in mid-April.
This week, the Ironmen had a game-packed schedule with three events over four days. Cherryville entertained East Burke at Fraley Field in between their two-game series with Shelby. All three games were decided by the 10-run rule, due mainly to Cherryville having several explosive innings.
First up was Shelby on Tuesday evening. The Golden Lions made a valiant effort but could not generate any offense. Cherryville won 10-0 to improve to 5-0 overall and in conference play. Brock Bumgardner had a solid outing on the mound, allowing 0 runs off 1 hit, walking 3, and striking out 8 in 5 innings. Bumgardner is 3-0 on the year and has allowed 0 runs on 2 hits, with 26 strikeouts to begin the season. Boone Wease took the loss for Shelby, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits and walking 1 in an inning of play. Canon Whitesides came in relief for Bumgardner and threw “zero ball” in one inning, 0 runs, 0hits, 0 walks, and 0 strikeouts. The Ironmen belted 12 hits on the night, led by Aaron Heavner, who went 2 for 3 and drove in 2 RBIs. Also getting two hits were Talon Dalton, Aaron Heavner, Brock Bumgardner, and Canon Whitesides. Defensively, Cherryville committed 0 errors. The Golden Lions were led by Matthew Spaes, going 1 for 2. Shelby also committed 0 errors and turned 1 double play.
Kenan Fowler tripled to open the bottom of the third and then scored on a wild pitch. Cherryville added 2 more runs in the bottom of the second. Davin Digh singled a line drive to left field, Aaron Heavner bunted to third base, then Canon Whitesides laid down a bunt to the pitcher. Bryson Withers walked to score Digh. Aaron Heavener scored on a sacrifice fly by Kenan Fowler. Shelby began to make some noise in the top of the third. Boone Wease walked, then, with two outs, he attempted to steal second. He appeared to be in safely; however, Aaron Heavner had kept the ball in his glove, and he tagged Wease out as he took his foot off the base, thus ending their threat. In the bottom of the third, Brock Bumgardner doubled a line drive to center field, Chandler Wooten walked, and Davin Digh hit into a fielder’s choice that scored Bryson Yarbro, who was in as a courtesy runner for Bumgardner. Wooten scored on Heavner’s groundout. Cherryville now led 5-0. The bottom of the fifth produced 3 more runs. A pitch hit Chandler Wooten, then stole second, and would score on a passed ball. Davin Digh walked, and his courtesy runner, E. Johnson, scored off Aaron Heavner’s double. Heavener then scores when Canon Whitesides doubles to left field. Leading 8-0 Talon Dalton tripled on a hard grounder to right field to begin the bottom of the sixth. Brock Bumgardner doubled to score Dalton. Chandler Wooten singled a line drive to center field that scored Bumgardner for the winning run.
On Wednesday evening, Cherryville improved its record to 6-0 with a 16-0 win over the visiting East Burke. Aaron Heavner earned the win, allowing 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 walks, and striking out 3 in 3 innings on the mound. Rhett Houston took the loss for East Burke in 1 2/3 innings. He allowed 12 runs (9 earned), on 7 hits, walked 3, and struck out 1 batter. Clemson Watts went 1 for 1 to lead East Burke at the plate. Camden Williams pitched 2 innings in relief. He allowed 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, and struck out 3. Cherryville blasted 11 hits with Parker Anderson, Aaron Heavner, and Brock Bumgardner getting two hits each. Bumgardner and Heavner also knocked in 3 RBIs each. On the base pads, the Ironmen stole 5 bases with Kenan Fowler responsible for 2 of those. Cherryville also turned 1 double play.
Cherryville’s first at bat in the bottom of the first saw Kenan Fowler walk, then steal second. Talon Dalton walked as well. Fowler scored on a passed ball. Brock Bumgardner lined to center field to score Dalton. Chandler Wooten singled, Davin Digh doubled a line drive to center field to score both Bumgardner and Wooten. Bryson Yarbro came in to run for catcher Digh; he advanced on a wild pitch and then scored on Aaron Heavner’s single. Cherryville led 5-0. In the bottom of the second, Parker Anderson singled to left field, a pitch hit Talon Dalton, Anderson stole third, and Dalton stole second. Bumgardner hits a double to deep center field to score both Anderson and Dalton. Chandler Wooten walked, and Aaron Heavner hit a line drive double, knocking in Bumgardner and Wooten. Jayden Adams hits a fly ball that is mishandled, reaching on an error. Colton Robinson was in to run for Heavner and scores. A pitch hit Bryson Withers, then stole second. Adams and Withers scored when Kenan Fowler doubled. Fowler then stole third and was driven in by a double from Parker Anderson. Cherryville’s lead was now 13-0.
The Ironmen plated 3 more runs in the bottom of the third. A pitch hit Davin Digh, Aaron Heavner walked, and Bryson Lamacchia reached on an error. Bryson Withers singled to right field, allowing Yarbro, who was running for Digh, to score. Landen McKillop grounded into a fielder’s choice to score Heavner. Talon Dalton sent a line drive to left field that allowed Lamacchia to score. Cherryville was now up 16-0. In the top of the fifth, Holden Starnes struck out, and Easton Wilson reached on an error. Nathan Fortenberry hit a grounder to Karter Willis at shortstop, who tossed the ball to Bryson Yarbro at second, then Yarbro threw to Canon Whitesides at first to complete a traditional 6-4-3 double play to end the game by mercy rule.
A trip to Shelby’s Veteran Field ended the week for the Ironmen as they got a 14-0 win over the Golden Lions to improve their record to 7-0 overall and 6-0 in the conference. Shelby dropped to 2-5 overall and 2-4 in conference play. Parker Anderson picked up the win for Cherryville. Over 3 innings, he allowed 0 runs, 2 hits, gave up 0 walks, and threw 7 strikeouts. He is now 3-0 on the season and has allowed 0 runs, 4 hits, and has 22 strikeouts. Canon Whitesides threw 2 innings of relief; he allowed 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, and struck out 3 batters. As a team, Cherryville scored 16 runs on 13 hits, 6 walks, and stole 5 bases. They committed 0 errors. Leading the way at the plate were Parker Anderson, who went 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs, Aaron Heavener, who went 2 for 2, including a 2-run home run and 3 RBIs, Brock Bumgardner, who was 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs, and Kenan Fowler, who went 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs. Talon Dalton, Parker Anderson, Kenan Fowler, Chandler Wooten, and Bryson Withers each had one stolen base. Boone Wease took the loss for Shelby, going 3 innings, giving up 8 runs on 9 hits, and throwing one strikeout. Jaiden Carty was the leading hitter for the Golden Lions, going 2 for 2.
At the start of the second inning, Cherryville broke open a scoreless game as Davin Digh started things off with a single to center field. Aaron Heavner cleared the left field wall with a 2-run homer. Jayden Adams hit a solid ground ball to right field and used his speed to stretch it into a triple. A pitch hit Bryson Withers, Kenan Fowler grounds out to shortstop, scoring Adams. Parker Anderson knocked in Withers with a single to put the Ironmen up 4-0. In the top of the third, Brock Bumgardner hit a line drive single to center field. A pitch hit Davin Digh—Bumgardner scores when Aaron Heavner hits a line drive single to left field. Jayden Adams grounded out to score Digh. Bryson Withers hits a deep fly ball to center field for a single that drives in Heavner. Cherryville 7-0. Kenan Fowler began the top of the fourth with a line drive to left field for a single, then stole second. Parker Anderson tripled to score Fowler. Talon Dalton walked, and Brock Bumgardner hit a long single to drive in Anderson and Dalton. Chandler Wooten and Aaron Heavner walked, and Bumgardner scored on a wild pitch. Wooten also scores on a wild pitch. Heavner scored when Kenan Fowler singled to left field to increase the score to 13-0. Bryson Lamacchia hit a lie drive and reached on an error to begin the top of the fifth. Chandler Wooten singled, and Karter Willis walked. Landen McKillop takes a walk to score Lamacchia, making the score 14-0. In the bottom of the fifth, Shelby had a groundout followed by two strikeouts to end the game on the 10-run rule.
The Ironmen have another busy week coming up. On March 17, they will host a tough Crest team at 7 pm. The following night, Cherryville travels to Morganton to take on Patton at 6:30 pm. On March 20th, Cherryville travels to Kings Mountain to play the Mountaineers at 7 pm. All three games are non-conference matchups.
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