Mount Airy nearly got caught in a bear trap when hosting Elkin on April 16.
The visiting Buckin’ Elks, who entered Tuesday’s game with just two wins on the season, got the bats going early to jump ahead to a 3-0 start. Elkin maintained its advantage until the fourth inning, at which point Mount Airy took advantage of bases on balls to go up 7-4. Mount Airy added a pair of runs in the fifth, then fended off a late rally to win 9-6.
The No. 1 Granite Bears extended their win streak to 14-straight games with Tuesday’s Northwest 1A Conference victory.
“We just didn’t play well at all for most of the night,” said Mount Airy coach Josh Wilson. “This was a trap game. I told them yesterday that, ‘You’re the number one team in the state and you’re playing the last place team in your conference. They’ve got nothing to lose, and you have everything to lose.’
“There’s just little things like warming up between innings, warming up before the game and making your thrown crisp and clean that matter so much, so if you don’t take that seriously stuff like this can happen. If you start slow like that in a few weeks for playoffs you’re season is over.”
Mount Airy (14-1, 9-0 NW1A) came into Tuesday’s game averaging 7.4 hits per game on the season and 8.4 hits across five games in the month of April. The Bears only posted one hit against the Elks — a fifth-inning bunt laid down by Landon Gallimore. All of the home team’s runs were scored on Elkin errors or on walks.
Elkin’s two pitchers — Will Pardue and Xan Charles — combined to throw nine walks and two hit by pitches.
“This wasn’t a super exciting game to be a part of because they weren’t throwing a lot of strikes and we ended up walking around the bases a lot,” Coach Wilson said. “Then most of the time they did throw strikes we weren’t patient, so we’d either strike out or make a bad play. It’s like when they walked our first two batters in the first inning, then we come up and swing at the first pitch which leads to a double play. We just weren’t being baseball smart.”
Elkin (2-14, 1-8 NW1A) jumped on Mount Airy out of the gate. Pardue led off with a base on balls before stealing second and scoring on a single from James Steele. Bases were loaded after another walk and a dropped fly ball in the outfield, then Elkin added a run by tagging up after a flyout. Charles followed with a double to bring in the visitors’ third run.
Mount Airy got out of the inning when Ian Gallimore rifled a throw from right field to catcher Cameryn Wilson for a tag at the plate.
“Elkin was not on their mind, and that’s what happens when you don’t take an opponent seriously,” Coach Wilson said. “You feel like you’ve won before the first pitch is ever thrown, then immediately go down 3-0. That’ll wake you up.”
Rylan Venable made his way around the bases in the bottom of the first inning to score Mount Airy’s first run. Venable was walked to start the inning, moved to second on a pickoff error then stole third. An error on the throw to third allowed Venable to stand up and go home. In the third inning, a bases-loaded walk and fielder’s choice hit by Kamden Hawks evened the score at 3-3.
Elkin kept its lead alive with an RBI double from Pardue in the top of the fourth. Following Pardue’s RBI, Elkin only had one hit for the rest of the game.
Landon Cox threw 6 2/3 innings for Mount Airy. The senior struck out seven batters, walked five, hit one with a pitch, and allowed six runs on five hits.
“Landon pitched well tonight, and he’s not thrown since the Starmount game,” Coach Wilson said. “He started off strong but we had a rough start in the field behind him. We didn’t make the plays we needed to in the field, and that made him have to throw a lot more pitches than he needed to early on.”
Mount Airy forced the game’s only lead change in the bottom of the fourth. Brison George was walked, stole second base then moved to third on a ground out from Landon Gallimore. Camdyn Easter was hit by a pitch, then Cash Hemric bunted to bring George home. An error throwing to first allowed Easter to score and moved Hemric to second base.
Elkin picked up the inning’s second out before Ian Gallimore was hit by a pitch. Hemric scored on a pickoff error at third base, which moved Gallimore to second, then Ian scored when Elkin committed another error in the field to make it 7-4.
Mount Airy scored in four different innings, and all four began with the leadoff batter being walked. That trend continued in the fifth as Cox earned a base on balls after facing a full count. Fletcher Gallimore — Cox’s courtesy runner — stole second, then moved to third on Landon Gallimore’s bunt.
Fletcher tagged up on a flyout to center field to score Mount Airy’s eighth run. Landon went to third when Elkin attempted to get Fletcher out at the plate, then an error on the throw back to third allowed Landon to score the team’s final run.
Elkin’s final push in the top of the seventh added two runs and left another two runners on base. Pardue started with a single to record his third hit of the game, but was called out at second on a fielder’s choice. Luke Burchette was then walked.
George took over on the mound after Cox reached his pitch count and threw two walks to bring in a run. Elkin’s Charles followed with an infield grounder to make it 9-6 before George ended the game with a strikeout.
“I’m glad we got the win, and I’m glad we showed a little bit of fight as the night went on and made some big plays,” Coach Wilson said. “I really think they’ll build off this because they know we didn’t play well and that this isn’t the type of baseball we want to be known for. They recognized our energy wasn’t where it needed to be during the game and tried to change, but moving forward that’s got to be something we’re prepared for from the start.”
Mount Airy can clinch the NW1A Championship by defeating Elkin on the road on April 19. Before that game, Mount Airy has a chance at redemption by traveling to Millers Creek to battle West Wilkes on April 18.
West Wilkes (10-6) is the only team in 2024 to defeat Mount Airy, doing so 2-1 in extra innings way back on Feb. 29.
Pitching
Elkin
Will Pardue — 4 2/3 IP, 6K, 9 BB, 2 HBP, 1H, 9R
Xan Charles — 1 1/3 IP, 2K
Mount Airy
Landon Cox — 6 1/3 IP, 7K, 5 BB, 1 HBP, 5H, 6R
Brison George — 2/3 IP, 1K, 2 BB
Scoring
Elkin — 3, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 2 — 6
Mount Airy — 1, 0, 2, 4, 2, 0, X — 9
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