North Iredell/Lake Norman observations

Here are a few observations from Tuesday night's Lake Norman/North Iredell baseball game.

1. Lake Norman had a solid gameplan devised for North pitcher Aaron Johnson. Lake Norman coach Robert Little - who coaches Johnson during fall baseball - knew the Wildcats' best shot was to wear the lefty down. Johnson hung tough and pitched six gritty innings, but three walks, a hit and an error in the fourth inning led to a 4-2 Lake Norman win.

2. Some interesting stats: Of North Iredell's 21 outs, six were registered on the first pitch (three groundouts and three flyouts). Lake Norman had zero first-pitch outs. Johnson had 123 pitches (52 balls, 71 strikes) in six innings. Lake Norman starter Garrett Braun tossed 93 pitches (33 balls, 60 strikes) in seven innings.

3. North Iredell looked like it might blow open the game in the third inning. Braun tossed a nice off-speed pitch to Tyler Christenberry that was called a ball - drawing ire from the Lake Norman bench and coaches. Braun even had to step off the mound for a moment to compose himself.

Faced with a 2-0 count, Braun had to throw a strike, and Christenberry responded with a single. Christenberry then stole second, and Nick Stutts hit a single to score him. But Braun buckled down and struck out Johnson and forced Marcus Ferguson to ground out to end the threat.

4. Lake Norman is young. Six sophomores started against North, but all played well. That group is going to be pretty scary in two years.

5. North continues to tinker with its first seven spots in the batting order. Here's a quick glimpse of the Raiders' lineup against Alexander Central on March 14 compared to Lake Norman last night.

(March 14): 1. Tyler Jordan, 2. John Walker, 3. Marcus Ferguson, 4. Nick Stutts, 5. Chris Bustle, 6. Aaron Johnson, 7. Tyler Christenberry.

(March 27): 1. Tyler Christenberry, 2. Nick Stutts, 3. Aaron Johnson, 4. Marcus Ferguson, 5. Tyler Jordan, 6. Josh Gregory, 7. Chris Bustle