Mooresville, NC July 29, 2022
Mooresville Spinners Manager Reese Honeycutt shouted, “You got six outs, show me what you can do with it”. Brandon Butterworth and Tyler McPeak wasted no time in answering his call, with home runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the spinners a 7 to 5 victory.
This is a game that began Thursday night and finished late Friday afternoon in a dramatic fashion. The Spinners lead at the end of play Thursday night after Justin Fox to RBI single giving the spinners a 3 to 2 edge. Then the rains came and halted play until Friday afternoon.
It was a situation where Jonathan Todd, Spinners starter, had just enough pitches to where he couldn’t pick up the game on Friday. Spinners turned to talented multi role player Steven Smith, to get them through a few innings. Smith ended up going all the way to the 8th inning exceeding expectation and pitched a great game.
Smith was told he would pitch the next day and was prepared for the outing. He held the Kingsman scoreless all the way until the eighth inning with temperatures nearing 100°. You can hear his post-game comments below.
With the spinners still clinging to a 3-2 lead from the night before, the top of the 8th rolled around, and the Kingsman decided they were going to make a rally of their own. The put up 3 quick runs and took a 5-3 lead quieting the Spinners crowd. The tide felt it was shifting toward the Kingsman, putting the Spinners in a position for a must win Friday nightcap.
But all that was about to change.
With one out in the bottom of the 8th, a slightly heated exchange took place between the Spinners coaching staff and the home plate umpire regarding the strike zone. It was not a situation of the balls and strikes calls themselves but a matter of keeping it consistent between the two teams. The disagreement came on a pitch called a strike that would subsequently have been ball 4 drawing a walk. Instead, the Spinner batter was sent to the dugout for a strikeout.
In steps Brandon Butterworth with a long at bat. He was equally frustrated as his coach and simply could take no more. Butterworth has a high baseball IQ and after 3 clean at bats picked up a mistake by the Kingsman pitcher. That mistake ended up in the backyard of longtime Mooresville resident Minnie Johnson, followed by screams of jubilation from Spinners players and fans. (Video included on this page)
Next to bat was James Hinson, nicknamed “the hammer”. Hinson is up near the top of the team in batting, and everyone was on the edge of their seats. Hinson has a good eye for batting and worked the count tough. He leads the team in walks therefore it was no surprise he battled hard and picked up another base on balls.
Up to bat next was the Campbell University standout Tyler McPeak. He too carried a chip on his shoulder regarding the top half of the inning and wanted some revenge of his own. After nother long at bat, McPeak worked the count full until a two-strike fastball came which was knocked over the centerfield fence resulting in a 7-5 Spinner lead. (Video shown on page)
Garret Sutton finished off the Kingsman in the top of the 9th inning ending the game. Sutton picked up a save in his team leading 10th appearance.
The win puts the Mooresville Spinners in the championship game Saturday night, 7pm. Moor Park. The Spinners will face the Concord Athletics for they defeated the Kingsman in the night game Thursday night.
You can hear post game comments from both Brandon Butterworth, Steven Smith, and Tyler McPeak below.
Post game interviews:
Steven Smith
Brandon Butterworth
Tyler McPeak
