Topsail's ace, and a wild card, lead to stunning baseball playoff upset of New Hanover
All season long, Topsail baseball coach Collin Buete knew what he’d get from ace pitcher Davis Hartman.
But when Buete had to turn to Cooper Cavanaugh on Tuesday night in the ninth inning of the Pirates’ third-round playoff game at New Hanover, he could only hope.
The junior left-hander was about to appear in a game for the first time in more than a year following Tommy John surgery. Cavanaugh, in fact, was only cleared to pitch in a game last week.
“Building up to it, I was so nervous,” Cavanaugh said. “But once you get out there, it comes back to you.”
Cavanaugh was at the heart of the celebration a handful of pitches later in a 2-1 upset win at Buck Hardee Field that pushed the Pirates into Friday’s NCHSAA Class 4A quarterfinals.
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“Probably one of my favorite games I’ve played in,” Hartman said.
A state power for most of the 2010s, with a title in 2014 and a three-game loss in the 2017 state final, the Pirates had fallen on hard times. A 4-8 start in their first year in Class 4A looked to extend that frustration.
Topsail (12-9), however, has won eight of its past nine, including three playoff games as the No. 24 seed in a 32-team bracket, allowing three total runs in the postseason.
“We tried to hammer that into the guys – don’t pay attention to our record,” Buete said. “We play in the toughest conference in the state. … Just get in [to the playoffs]. Those battles will help us against teams that aren’t used to seeing teams like this every week.”
No. 1-seeded New Hanover (20-5) had beaten them twice in the regular season, but the Wildcats could barely touch Hartman, who allowed only three hits, struck out nine, and retired 20 of the final 22 batters he faced.
The burly senior walked off the mound with his arms raised at the end of the eighth inning after his final pitch was hit to the warning track in left field, but caught.
After Topsail got a two-out RBI by Tatum Hayden for the lead, Buete turned it over to Cavanaugh. He sandwiched two outs around an infield single, put the winning run on via intentional walk, then watched as the Pirates caught a New Hanover runner between bases on a double steal to end the game in stunning fashion.
“That was a really, really, really big spot for Cooper,” Hartman said. “He’s been throwing in practice … and it’s been really big for him to come out here and throw the way he did. Once that first pitch went over for a strike, I knew it was going to go well. It was big for him, big for the team.”
Topsail again hits the road later this week, to defending state runner-up Fuquay-Varina. The Pirates don’t have a big pitching staff, but those players have been terrific down the stretch. If they do it again, they’ll have Hartman back for an improbable trip to the state semifinals. And who knows what could happen from there.
“First half, we got unlucky, had the hits that didn’t fall,” Cavanaugh said. “Second half, we got a little lucky, timely hits. And Davis has been working [hard]. He’s just been awesome. We’ve been great. We turned it around.”
Dan Spears is the sports editor for the Wilmington StarNews, and Southeast Regional sports editor for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at Dan.Spears@StarNewsOnline.com or on Twitter @DanSpears.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Topsail baseball shocks New Hanover in NCHSAA Class 4A playoffs
