Mooresville/Statesville baseball thoughts

Tuesday night's game between Mooresville and Statesville was a wild one, and not just because I almost caught a foul ball.

North Piedmont Conference leader Mooresville scrapped together a come-from-behind 11-10 win over the Greyhounds. Mooresville is undefeated in conference play, and the Greyhounds remained winless. You can read my story by clicking here.

The Blue Devils are the best hitting team in the county. No question. They have a ton of power and know how to get on base.

The defense was a problem, though I think that had a lot to do with Statesville's field. It was Statesville's first home game of the season, and there were some issues.

A few bald spots stood out in the outfield, and the infield was almost like a slab of concrete. One batter chopped a pitch on the dirt in front of the plate, and the ball bounced about 15 feet in the air and traveled to the shortstop. That goes right back to the pitcher in most other parks.

As for the foul ball, Statesville's Jimmy Jordan hit a screaming line drive right at me (I like to sit in the stands).

I calmly went for the smooth underhand catch, and the ball thwacked off my hand (leaving a decent-sized welt) and fell into the bleachers. I may have to break my own rule and start bringing a baseball glove to games.

Also, I'd like to comment on a situation that a few of you asked me about after the game. Unfortunately, I was up against our deadline and couldn't respond. The situation in question occurred in the second inning with Mooresville winning 4-0.

Greyhound catcher Josh Booher was on first base with no outs and Malcolm Robinson had a 3-1 count. Robinson tried to catch his swing on a breaking ball that hit the dirt. Booher thought the home umpire signaled ball four and began to trot to second base. Mooresville whipped the ball to the first baseman, who tagged out Booher.

The field umpire called him out. When Robinson and the Statesville coaches argued it was ball four, the field umpire said "No, he went around."

After a two or three minute conference, the ruling stood and Robinson struck out on the next pitch. Statesville scored one run, but could have potentially had more.

The questions posed to me were: What did you think of the call? Did that cause Statesville to lose?

I don't know if Robinson went around on his swing or not. You'd have to ask him. But, I do think the field umpire was out of line.

The home umpire called ball four and did not ask the field ump. if Robinson went around on his swing. It wasn't his call to make.

That certainly wasn't the reason for Statesville's loss, though. I would look more at the 10 runners stranded in scoring position throughout the game as a big reason.