Wednesday’s prep roundup: HP Wesleyan upsets No. 1 Charlotte Christian
There are many ways in baseball how one play can be the difference between winning and losing.
Unfortunately for perennial state power Charlotte Christian, the Knights lived out that frustration Wednesday after a well-placed pop-up in the third inning gave visiting High Point Wesleyan all the runs it would need in a 2-0 N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association Class 4A semifinal victory at Greg Simmons Field.
The blooper was Wesleyan’s only hit of the game against Charlotte Christian’s Grant Nicholson.
“With two elite arms on the mound, it’s a game of small margins,” Charlotte Christian coach Reid Fronk said. “And the small margins went against us tonight.”
High Point Wesleyan’s 6-foot-7, 240-pound right-handed pitcher Sam Cozart was the biggest benefactor of what Fronk called “small margins” on Wednesday night in a contest that had originally been scheduled for Tuesday.
Cozart, one of the state’s highest-rated seniors and a University of Texas signee, scattered five hits, struck out 10 and walked none.
He was at his best whenever the Knights got runners aboard.
In the first inning after Owen Farrell missed a leadoff home run by about 10 feet for a double, Cozart struck out the next two batters and coaxed a foul pop-up for the final out of the frame.
In the fifth after a leadoff double by Ivan Andino and Hudson Simmons’ sacrifice bunt moved Andino to third with one out, Cozart got a strikeout and a flyball to end the inning.
In the sixth, Cozart struck out the side despite yielding a one-out single to center and two-out infield hit to leave two runners aboard.
And in the bottom of the seventh, he struck out two batters, including the final out after Witt McCammon had reached on a two-out, two-strike single.
“Sam Cozart did a great job,” said Fronk, whose top-seeded team had edged the No. 5-seeded Trojans (16-11) 6-5 in eight innings on March 6 in a regular season game on the same field.
THREE WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE
Grant Nicholson, Charlotte Christian: Threw a one-hitter with 12 strikeouts, four walks and one hit batter.
Blake Goff, High Point Wesleyan: His two-out, two-run RBI single in the third inning on a pop-up that landed in between the Knights’ second baseman, center fielder and right fielder drove in the game’s only runs.
Sam Cozart, High Point Wesleyan: Threw a five-hitter with 11 strikeouts and no walks for the pitching victory.
NOTES
▪ Charlotte Christian finished the season with a 26-6 record and one game shy of having a chance at a state-record 18th NCISAA state championship.
Five seniors played their final games for the Knights on Wednesday, including future college baseball players Grant Nicholson (Wake Forest), Cohen Bettencourt (High Point) and Wade Thompson (Wingate) and future college football player Owen Farrell (Charleston Southern).
▪ High Point Wesleyan’s 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior shortstop-pitcher Owen Hammond is a Wake Forest signee who also is considered one of the country’s top high school major league draft prospects; He’s ranked No. 77 overall by MLB.com and No. 18 among high school players.
THEY SAID IT
“Grant (Nicholson) matched him pitch for pitch. So hat’s off to Sam (Cozart) and High Point Wesleyan. It was just a really well-pitched baseball game.” Charlotte Christian coach Reid Fronk.
GAME SUMMARY
High Point Wesleyan 002 000 0 - 2 1 0
Charlotte Catholic 000 000 0 - 0 5 0
W - Sam Cozart (6-0). L - Grant Nicholson (7-1). Leading hitters: HPW- Blake Goff 1-3 (2 RBIs); CC- Owen Farrell (1-3, double), Ivan Andino (1-3, double).
Area baseball roundup: Metrolina moves to state final
Metrolina Christian 4, North Raleigh Christian 0: Metrolina Christian (28-1) advanced to the finals for the second year in a row and will have a rematch with Wesleyan in the finals Friday.
Metrolina won the title on the road last season but will host this time.
Metrolina starter Myle White worked three innings for the victory, allowing one hit and striking out seven. Case Gibbs pitched the final four innings, permitting three hits and striking out seven. Jacob Seamon doubled, homered and drove in two runs, and Jackson Pierce had a single and a double.
The Warriors won their 10th straight game on Wednesday; they last lost to Charlotte Christian 4-3 on April 5.
▪ Another local team reached the NCISAA baseball finals. In 3A, Gaston Christian (18-2) plays at Sanford’s Grace Christian.
TC Roberson 8, Providence 4: Roberson, going for a third straight 4A state title, continued its playoff roll through Charlotte-area teams Wednesday.
Roberson (22-5) won its third straight game and beat Charlotte Catholic and Providence in back-to-back postseason games.
Micah Simpson had the big hit for Roberson — a grand slam.
The Rams will play at a third Charlotte-area team Friday, hosting Union County power Marvin Ridge. The winner will head to a regional championship series.
Marvin Ridge 4, South Caldwell 0: Marvin Ridge (21-7) moved onto the quarterfinals, beating South Caldwell (25-3) on the road.
The Mavericks, who got seven hits Wednesday, won their second straight road game after beating Hough 9-3 on May 9. The Mavericks held South Caldwell to four hits.
East Rowan 11, Lake Norman Charter 7: East Rowan (25-5) got a big games from sophomore Sam Blackwelder and senior Mason Phelps to advance to the 3A quarterfinals. Blackwelder was 2-for-4 at the plate with a triple and two RBIs. He scored two runs.
Phelps was 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs.
East Rowan will play host North Lincoln on Friday.
North Lincoln 7, East Lincoln 2: The Knights scored six times in their last two at-bats, after the game was resumed Wednesday night with the score tied 1-1 in the fifth inning. North Lincoln will travel to East Rowan on Friday in a quarterfinal round game.
Lincoln Charter 7, Burns 5: Lincoln Charter scored seven runs in the first two innings and held on as Burns scored five runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Lincoln Charter got four RBIs combined from junior Danny Okoniewski and senior Justin Horne.
Lincoln Charter will play at No. 1 overall western seed East Rutherford in Friday’s quarterfinals
Soccer: South Meck wins
South Mecklenburg scored in the second overtime period and knocked off host Mooresville in the completion of a 4A playoff match. The contest had been suspended Tuesday night with the score tied at 1-all in the first overtime.
Softball: Hawks oust Cannon
Charlotte Latin got two RBIs from both Iris King and Avery Bly to beat host Cannon School 12-2 in an NCISAA Division 1 state semifinal. The Hawks (18-4) advance to the best-of-three state championship series Friday and Saturday.
Lila McConnell scored three times for Charlotte Latin.
The Hawks’ state championship foe will be decided Thursday. The Charlotte Christian-Covenant Day semifinal was postponed.
Bradford Prep names former state champ new basketball coach
Former N.C. state champion Jason Grube is the new boys’ basketball coach at Charlotte’s Bradford Prep. Bradford Prep will be a 2A public school in the N.C. High School Athletic Association next season.
Grube, most recently head coach at Hough High in Cornelius, graduated from Indiana University in 1996. He’s been a teacher and a coach for 29 years, beginning his career as a social studies teacher at Garinger High.
Three years later, in 1999, Grube left for East Meck, where he coached the basketball team for 15 years and won the first N.C. 4A state championship in school history in 2008.
Grube, who has more than 300 career wins, recently retired from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and joined Bradford Prep in 2024.
Grube has coached 40 all-conference players and is the all-time winningest coach at East Meck (219 wins) and Hough (121). He’s been named a conference coach of the year seven times and was All-Observer and N.C. coach of the year in 2008.
