Middle Creek baseball opens playoffs with narrow win over Clayton
When Middle Creek takes the field Saturday for the second round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A baseball playoffs, it will do so with the luxury of having senior pitcher Robbie Frongello at its disposal.
Frongello was outstanding Tuesday and, almost if not equally important, efficient in tossing a three-hitter in a 2-0 victory over visiting Clayton in a first-round contest.
The Richmond University-bound submarine-style pitcher navigated through the Comets’ lineup in just 72 pitches, which will allow Frongello under the new pitch-count rules instituted this year in North Carolina to pitch on three days rest Saturday should Middle Creek coach Wesley King opted to use him against the winner of Wednesday’s New Hanover/Southern Alamance first-round game. Had Frongello exceeded 75 pitches, he would not have been able to pitch until Monday.
King wouldn’t tip his hand whether he would start Frongello or senior Tucker Rogers in the second-round game, but he was certainly glad that he would have Frongello on hand if needed.
“It’s crucial being able to have him,” King said. “Robbie’s tough. You can’t prepare for him because there aren’t many pitchers like him around. He’s a Division I pitcher for a reason, he’s got some ability out there on the mound. He doesn’t throw hard but he has some good run on his pitches.”
Frongello didn’t allow a hit Tuesday until Clayton’s Sawyer Worrell blooped a ball just over the head of Middle Creek first baseman Ryan Chasse for a one-out single in the fourth inning. Frongello later allowed singles in the fifth and seven innings, only to have those runners erased via double plays, including a nifty one that closed it out against the Comets when Frongello made a nice grab of a hard-hit grounder by Josh Collins to start a game-ending 1-6-3 double play.
“They do tell me a lot of times in the last inning how many pitches I have left,” Frongello said with a smile. “Then they just want me to fill it up and attack.”
Middle Creek (19-6), the No. 7 Mideast seed, scored both its runs in the first inning.
Jake Forte led off the inning with a triple, and he scored on Jonathan D’Ercole’s infield single to put the Mustangs up 1-0. D’Ercole stole second base, then took third on a groundout before scoring on Rogers’ sacrifice fly to right field to make it 2-0.
Frongello said getting the early run-support was significant.
“Getting the jump on them helped settle down the nerves,” said Frongello, who struck out four. “Pitching with the lead, it’s completely different than pitching when tied or even down.”
Clayton (15-9), the No. 10 East seed, got a strong outing from junior starter Tyler Tuthill. The Appalachian State commit went the distance, allowing five hits while striking out seven.
However, it wasn’t quite enough, as the Comets couldn’t muster any offense.
“That’s been us all year, we’ve had to manufacture runs,” Clayton coach Stacey Houser said. “We’ve had good pitching and fairly good defense, and we’ve played in 11 one-run games and won eight of them. ... So we didn’t get rattled, and we got some good swings on it, but it wasn’t enough. Their pitcher there is pretty good.”
The game was the final one of Houser’s coaching career.
Retiring this year as both athletic director and baseball coach at Clayton, including the last 14 years as the Comets’ varsity coach where he helped lead the team to four conference titles, Houser plans on moving with his wife to Bath where they have a beach house.
“It’s emotional because I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” Houser said. “I walk out of that gate (Tuesday) for the last time as a high school baseball coach. ... I’m very humble because I had the opportunity to do what I’ve done for 30 years and very thankful for the people that I’ve been put around and the relationships I’ve built. I don’t know what else I would have done.”
This story was originally published May 10, 2017 at 2:27 AM with the headline "Middle Creek baseball opens playoffs with narrow win over Clayton."