From thepilot.com – The Pinecrest baseball team is into the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament title game following a 9-3 win at home over Southern Lee Tuesday.

Pinecrest was locked in a tight game with the Cavaliers, leading 4-3 entering the sixth inning. In the bottom half of the inning, Pinecrest scored five runs to take control of the contest.

“I’m very proud of our resiliency, but to know that we beat a very good team,” Pinecrest coach Jeff Hewitt said. “All our pitchers kept us right in the ballgame. Our hitters did a good job late in the game of plating runs when we needed it.”

Pinecrest hosts Lee County in the title game Thursday night. READ MORE.

From thepilot.com – For the second outing in a row, the Pinecrest baseball team proved that being down to your last out doesn’t mean the innings is drawing to a close.

Pinecrest sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning in a tie game with rival Union Pines, and through that eight runs scored to help the Patriots close out a 12-4 win at home Thursday and cap off the regular season.

“(Pinecrest) Coach (Jeff) Hewitt always says, ‘A third of the innings is still left. It’s never over.’ We’re a pretty good team with two outs I feel like,” Hudgins said. “It just means that one through nine we can all hit. If we are coming into the inning and seven is up to bat, it’s the same as one. We have the same trust.”

The second out of the inning came on the third at-bat, and from there, the lineup rolled around and around. Hudgins had two at-bats in the inning, hitting behind teammate Bryant Kimbrell, the reigning conference player of the year, who was intentionally walked four times in the game. READ MORE.

From thepilot.com – The Pinecrest baseball team watched in the preseason where senior pitcher Mason Konen came in more focused and determined.

The results have shown in recent weeks, including in Tuesday’s 7-0 win for Pinecrest at Union Pines, a win that locked in the outright Sandhills Athletic Conference regular season title for the Patriots, which marks the sixth straight complete season the team finished as either the champs or co-champs of their conference.

“We had been talking about mental toughness for the last two years, me and (Pinecrest) coach (Jeff) Hewitt. It’s been something we have worked on probably close to every day,” Konen said. “It means just zoning in on my job. Just throw strikes, hit my spots and do what I’m supposed to do and not worry about any outside forces.”

Hewitt said in the preseason he noticed a change with Konen, and what has developed over the last 22 games of the season has secured him as another key arm to add depth to the Pinecrest (19-3,10-1 Sandhills) pitching staff. READ MORE.