GREENVILLE – A strong pitching performance by Catawba Ridge’s Jake McCoy and timely hitting by Owen Noonan powered the Copperheads to a decisive game for a spot in the Upper State baseball series.
McCoy threw a one hitter and Catawba Ridge was able to get a 2-0 win at Greenville High Friday night. They will now have to play another game against Greenville at noon on Saturday, May 13 with the winner going to the Upper State championship series. The Copperheads are now 24-6 on the season.
Catawba Ridge head coach Stas Swerdzewski said McCoy did a great job on the mound.
“That is Jake McCoy right there,” Swerdzewski said. “When he is in the zone, he is virtually unhittable. He is as good as I have ever seen at the high school level. He attacked the zone.”
Based on the first matchup between the teams, which Greenville won 2-1, the game wasn’t expected to be a high scoring contest.
Neither team did anything in the first inning as both pitchers were locked in to start the game.
Greenville got the first two batters on base to open the bottom of the second inning by walks. However, McCoy was able to work out is the jam without allowing a run.
Catawba Ridge opened the top of the third with a single from Britton Nash and a walk to Ethan Solnick. Nash made it to third with a stolen base, but both him and Solnick was left stranded to end the inning.
Both teams continued to put runners on base, but struggled to push one across the plate.
That was until the fifth inning where Nash led the inning off with a single and was moved to third on a single by Peyton Dhein all with no outs. McCoy was intentionally walked and Noonan singled to drive in two runs to give the Copperheads the lead.
“Owen has done a tremendous job all year long,” Swerdzewski said. “He is the real deal. He has had a great season. He has been a key cog to our offense.”
In the bottom of the inning, Greenville again threatened by putting two on through a walk and error, but McCoy was able to again get out of the inning without giving up a run despite giving up his only hit of the game. Jackson Mullen saved a run from scoring by throwing a Red Raiders base runner out at home to get out of the inning.
McCoy ended up pitching 6.1 innings and allowed just the one hit, while striking out 10 Greenville players. He also walked six Red Raiders as well.
Caden Glauber would come in to get the save getting the final two outs for the Copperheads.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
