Mooresville, NC July 31, 2022
Madness.
The Mooresville Spinners are your 2022 SCBL champions! In a strong showing behind starting pitcher Kyle Murphy along with James Hinson first inning run home run, the Spinners come out on top for the second straight season with a 12-1 win versus the Concord Athletics.
The final two games of the season for the Mooresville Spinners turned out to be quite exciting. The Spinners simply had to win one more game after the previous night’s performance. They were the only team left without a loss in the tournament therefore, the Athletics needed to win two games in a row to claim the title.
GAME 1: Schepel, Greene
Matt Schepel, one of the spinners ace starters, was simply flawless all night. This is the championship game for the Spinners and he was ready. He went 6 innings and allowed no runs on only four hits with 7 strikeouts. Right from the start Schepel took command and shut down the Athletics one by one. Schepel gave them respect and said post game “They are all great college players. I knew I had to be on my game and give it my best.”
From the offensive side, in the second inning, the Spinners started fast. Jermie Greene hit a home-run in the bottom of the second deep out of left center field. Greene worked another well-known 3-2 count and sent the ball into the parking lot. When asked about the success he had in both championship games he mentioned, “it is the playoffs, I had to show out for my team.” And that he did… as a powerful asset all season for the Spinners, with nothing changed this tournament week.
In the third inning James Hinson worked the count to earn himself another team leading base on balls. That forced in a run by Justin Fox, making the score to 2-0 Spinners.
Blake Jackson also scored on a wild pitch making the game 3-0 Spinners. There was still only one out in the inning which brought Tyler McPeak up to bat. He hit a deep fly ball which looked out of the park, but was caught on the warning track. This did however score another run with Brandon Butterworth, by tagging up making the game 4 to 0. McPeak gets credit for the sacrifice fly and a job well done.
Then came the rain.
It began to downpour after the conclusion of the 6th inning. And boy did it ever… the infield was lost fast, and play was halted. After some debate, the game was scheduled to be concluded the following afternoon at 2pm.
Spinners fans were expecting to show up for a 2pm game, watch a quick 3 innings and celebrate a championship. Unfortunately, this did not happen.
One of the Spinners closer’s started the game and simply threw strikes. In the 7th, a swinging third strike play fluke, blinded Mooresville catcher allowed the batter to be safe at first, scoring former Spinner Chad Sikes.
Even after all that, the Spinners still had a 4-1 lead going in to the 9th, and that is when the wheels ended up coming off.
The one thing that I do know is I would have taken a similar approach to the game as the Spinners did. Throw strikes and put it in to the hands of the defense. Defensive substitutions were made, and the pitcher was sent out to get 3 measly outs.
A swinging bunt, an error, a few hits, and the next thing you know it is a tie ball game. All this happened even before Manager Reece Honeycutt had a chance to get anyone up in the pen.
Immediately he got arms going, but there wasn’t enough time as the Athletics put up 6 total runs in the inning, taking a 7-4 lead.
The Spinners were unsuccessful in the bottom of the 9th and the game finished on a very sour note of 7-4. This broke an undefeated month of July for the Spinners, (a record) and now put them in jeopardy of losing a championship. They had won every single game in the month of July, and on the very last day they pick up a defeat.
And then came the rain. Again.
Followed by the madness, and the drama. More madness, a change of venue, police intervention, (wondering what these 100 plus Spinner fans were doing at a baseball field in Concord with none scheduled) and finally a baseball game.
Moor Park was a flood shortly after the conclusion. A typhoon came through which knocked out power and ducks were seen floating around shortstop and second base. Even in the Mooresville Sports war room where the Indianapolis NASCAR race was being audio fed, they were talking about the storms in Mooresville and outages.
A decision needed to be made and made fast. Options were being tossed around to find a field. We had a 6pm start time and that wasn’t going to happen. What about the local high school? Was it ready for a college baseball game? The weather? Will it rain again in Mooresville?
Then we had the drama. Apparently, a decision to declare a co-championship was brought up and to NOT play the final game. The debate went back and forth, and it was finally agreed upon to play the game in Concord and assign it an 8pm start time. This avoided a massive protest and a lot of angry Spinners fans.
The SCBL license prohibited play the following day due to its expiration so there was no way to reschedule it for Monday. The season must be ended tonight, which is what brought up the co-championship discussions.
GAME 2: Hinson, Butterworth, Fox, Murphy, Lyda
The re scheduled start time did help the Mooresville Spinners to a degree (no pun intended). Baseball was being played all week in 100-degree heat and the extra few hours of break was good. It really allowed everyone to get in a car for some AC and even grab a bite to eat. We considered picking up a bucket of KFC chicken to sacrifice, like the movie “Major League” and bring it to the dugout before the nightcap game. Jobu was another possibility but there was not enough time to get a $125 doll to Concord. The Spinners were going to need to do it on their own without any tricks. At least the later start time and refresher gave more time to get over the crushing afternoon loss.
8pm. The SCBL championship in Concord, NC.
What a season, what a ride. It all comes down to this… a night start 35 miles away from the original location and a banged up, mentally upset baseball team.
The night before we saw a very talented Kingsman baseball team lose a close game to the Spinners and went on to lose later that evening. Many people believed that loss was due to losing a heart-breaking game very late near the end. The Spinners were now in a similar situation as the Kingsman and had to travel.
Right out of the gate with the second batter, Mooresville Spinners Justin Fox singled for the Spinners first hit. Fox always shows up when it really matters most, and tonight was no different. He went on a tear and racked up 4 hits on the night and scored twice including a double. The double was hit so hard an anonymous Spinner yelled “oh no, what are you doing! that ball has a family!” (video shown)
For the past week at Spinner games, Mooresville Sports debuted a new 4k video system. On every single occasion, our pal James Hinson, either walked, was hit by a pitch, or had an “anti-climactic” at bat. Many games early in the season and throughout July, massive home runs were hit by Hinson along with balls off the wall and punishing blows. But we never had any on video and felt we became the jinx.
The very baseball superstitions out there decided to cause a traffic jam and force our crew to be late to the game. James Hinson happened to be batting in the first inning. With our luck and previous curse on Hinson, he beat us to the punch, and blasted a massive 2 run home run over the center filed fence. The shot scored both him and Fox giving the Spinners an early 2-0 lead. Hinson has been big like this all season, and this was another example. His on base percentage for the last week of the season was ridiculous, showing what Coach Honeycutt mentioned “they are learning to pitch around James in fear of the big hit.”
The Spinners turned to Kyle Murphy. The crafty right hander out of Gainesville, Georgia, to set the tone on the hill. And Murphy did just that. He went 4 complete innings giving up only 1 run on just 3 hits and 5 strikeouts. Murphy kept the Athletics at bay which allowed the Mooresville Spinners smooth sailing all night.
Mason Lyda was equally stellar in relief for the Spinners on the hill, who was already in the game playing 3rd base. He went 3 innings himself, giving up no runs, and only 1 hit with 3 strikeouts. Lyda is a class act, he spent the mid game period beginning to warm up in the dugout, and deal with his fan base begging for a bat or item described as “something old and not wanted anymore, please Mason”. Lyda also had a hit in the game. Following the game, Lyda gave a new working bat he used in the game, to a young fan.
Brandon Butterworth had another big game. We have said that an awful lot this season and he has become a leader out there. In the championship game he picked up 4 hits himself tying Fox for the most and scoring 2 runs himself. He played a fantastic game finishing his season batting over .300 and was a difference maker in many games, as well as a vocal leader in the dugout.
Jermie Greene again came through big tonight with 2 RBI’s and 2 hits. Noah Love had a solid hit and RBI along with hits by Steven Smith, Davis Turner, and Dante DeFranco.
Huge props for Mooresville Spinners Davis Turner. Turner caught every game in the tournament despite taking many foul balls off his body. The temperatures were scorching with high humidity, and we still do not know how he made it. Did we mention he is also leading the team in batting at .350? He also had a huge hit in the championship with a run batted in. The Spinners were fortunate to have Turner catch each game in the tournament, and he did a fantastic job all around.
After that first inning bomb by James Hinson, the Athletics couldn’t really get anything going against Murphy or Lyda, the Spinners scored in the 3rd 4th and 7th innings with a whopping 8 runs in the 7th, forcing a mercy rule victory in 2 hours and 44 minutes.
It was an impressive victory and season championship for the Mooresville Spinners. Celebrations took place on the field and continued back at Moor Park in Mooresville, NC.
Check back later in the week for player interviews and a season recap for the Mooresville Spinners. Congratulations on your 2022 SCBL champion Mooresville Spinners collegiate baseball team.
