Crest hands Forestview first baseball loss

GASTONIA — The team Forestview coach Brian Horne picked to win the conference gave him no reason to change his mind.

Crest pounded out 12 hits and rolled to an 11-0 road win in five innings Friday against the previously undefeated Jaguars.

“I thought last year they were the best ball team at the end of the season,” Horne said. “Even though they didn’t win the conference, I thought they were playing better than everybody and they return most of those guys.”

Landon Elks and Jacob Tisdale supplied three hits each, Julian Ridings went 2-for-3 with a two-run home run and two pitchers combined on a one-hitter for Crest (6-1, 2-0 Big South 3A Conference), which went 9-3 in the league last year for second place.

Senior left-hander Sterling Cole (2-0), ineligible to play last season, surrendered one hit over four innings, struck out seven and walked two. Logan Cheek then pitched a perfect fifth inning to close out Crest’s sixth straight win. The Chargers haven’t lost since a season-opening 1-0 setback to Cherryville.

Crest got its offense going right away, as Ridings drew a walk to lead off the game and scored two batters later on Tisdale’s single. The Chargers added four runs in each of the next two innings and went ahead 11-0 in the fourth.

“We can hit,” Crest coach Steven Hodge said. “We just haven’t hit, and there’s a few reasons why. We haven’t been selective. We did a lot better job of that tonight and hopefully that’ll build some confidence.”

Forestview (5-1, 1-1) put only four runners on base, and Logan Craig provided the only hit with a third-inning single. Zach Daly had reached on an error in the previous at-bat, but both runners were stranded when Cole struck out Reilly Hovis.

Hovis (2-1) started on the mound but lasted only 1 1/3 innings, giving up five runs on four hits and three walks.

The only positive for Forestview was the debut of its new scoreboard. It’s a big improvement over the old scoreboard, as it displays hits, errors, score by innings and batter number. The scoreboard wasn’t operable until less than an hour before first pitch.

“I told Coach Hodges after the game we have confirmation the numbers on the visiting side work,” Horne joked.

Forestview plays Tuesday at North Gaston. Crest plans to make up a home game against Burns 6 p.m. Thursday. The Chargers’ next conference game is Friday, when it plays host to North Gaston.

You can reach Phillip Gardner at 704-869-1843.