Baseball Game Preview: Watauga Pioneers vs. South Caldwell Spartans

The Watauga Pioneers will take on the South Caldwell Spartans at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Watauga is coming into the match hot, having won their last four games.

Watauga's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past Ashe County 2-0.

Evan Burroughs

Hits Against

03/11/25 vs Mooresville	5
03/08/25 vs South Mecklenburg	3
03/21/25 @ Alexander Central	2
04/01/25 @ Ashe County	1
03/04/25 vs West Wilkes	1

Evan Burroughs was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Watauga is 2-1 when Burroughs allows two or fewer hits, but 5-6 otherwise. Burroughs was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs and stealing two bases. He is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as he's now snagged at least one in each of the last five games he's played.

In other pitching news, Everett Gryder tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and allowed only two hits over five innings pitched. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Watauga is 3-1 when he allows at most two earned runs, but 4-6 otherwise.

Burroughs wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Jake Blanton, who went 1-for-2 with one triple and one RBI. That triple was Blanton's first of the season.

Meanwhile, South Caldwell suffered their closest loss since April 23, 2024 on Wednesday. They fell just short of Lincoln Charter by a score of 6-4. The loss was the Spartans' first of the season.

Watauga pushed their record up to 7-7 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road. The road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games. As for South Caldwell, their defeat was their first of the season and makes their record 13-1.