Dozier, Dillon get best of Gregory, Waccamaw in matchup of friends, rivals

Waccamaw baseball coach Jeff Gregory has been friends with Dillon coach Gregg Dozier since the two were enrolled at Coastal Carolina University in the early 90s.

The two had to put their friendship aside Tuesday as their teams met in the Class AA Lower State tournament.

Dillon starter and South Carolina commit Duncan Callahan took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and the Wildcats’ offense ran wild en route to a 10-1 victory over Gregory’s Warriors.

Gregory gave Dozier and Dillon – which has made the Lower State tournament five of the past six years – plenty of credit.

“Dillon is playing real well,” said Gregory, who brought the Warriors back to Lower States for the first time since 2011. “This time of year they normally do, they’ve been here before and we haven’t. They showed that maturity tonight, which we didn’t have.”

Callahan couldn’t finish out the game as he totaled around 100 pitches, but Joseph Scott struck out all three batters he faced in the seventh to shut the door on the Warriors. Callahan has been plagued by injuries the past few years and after missing close to three weeks leading into the playoffs, Dozier is glad to see his ace at full health.

“Duncan is coming back off a sore arm from last year. But you saw it tonight; he pounds the zone, does good things and gives your kids a chance to win,” Dozier said. “I couldn’t be more proud of him. He took a no-hitter for a while, but he got tired towards the end so it was time to go get him. He held it down the whole night and we made some good plays to help him out.”

Gregory has seen Callahan beat his team before and saw it again Tuesday.

“Callahan is even better than what he was tonight,” said Gregory, who graduated from Coastal in 1992. “He had a good performance against us and obviously we weren’t ready for his velocity. I’ve seen him better and he’s going to continue to get better. But with him healthy, they’ll make a good run.”

Dillon scored a run in the second inning, but the Wildcats didn’t get a clear advantage until the fourth inning. Dillon had four RBI singles, an RBI double and a two-RBI double in the eight-run fourth inning to open the game up.

“It just kind of snowballed from there,” said Dozier, who graduated from CCU in 1994. “We’re fortunate to swing the bat and hopefully this thing will continue and we continue to get good pitching.”

Every player in Dillon’s starting lineup got at least one hit as the Wildcats tallied 14 in the contest. Austin Moody led the way, going 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored, and Patrick Herring, Dekendric Graves and Gunnar Grossetti had two hits each to round out Dillon’s offense.

“It’s really something. We were struggling early in the year scoring runs and we talked a lot about it the last couple of weeks,” Dozier said. “I said to the guys, ‘If we’re going to make a run in the playoffs, we’ve got to start squaring the ball up and hitting it on a line and putting pressure on people.’ Tonight we had some big hits and it was good to see.”

Waccamaw added a run in the seventh inning, and Daniel Rourke had the Warriors’ only hit on the night as he went 1-for-3.

Forrest Powell (5-2) received the loss as he allowed five runs on six hits and one walk in 3 1/3 innings. Meanwhile, Justin Busby didn’t record an out as he allowed four runs on five hits in the eight-run fourth inning, and Christian Hendrickson finished out the game, allowing just one run on three hits and no walks in 3 2/3 innings.

“The rain has gotten us behind and we’re having to play day in and day out,” Gregory said. “[Powell] just left the ball up and at this level you can’t do that against quality teams and they made him pay for it. We weren’t quite as sharp as [Powell] has been. Dillon is a good ball team.”

Dozier admitted it’s always fun to get after it with Gregory, but knows the Warriors aren’t done yet. If Waccamaw beats Bishop England in Wednesday’s elimination game at 6 p.m., the Warriors will travel to Dillon to take on the Wildcats in the Lower State finals Friday.

“I got all the respect in the world for coach Gregory. That score doesn’t reflect this team,” Dozier said. “They’re a great ballclub and in the regular season, they beat us and we beat them at our place. He’ll bounce back and I’ll probably see him Friday and come to my place. I’d love for it to come down to our region.”

Waccamaw beat Bishop England 2-1 on Monday, and Gregory will have a few tricks up his sleeve for Wednesday’s contest.

“We beat them yesterday and it’ll be a good contest,” he said. “Hopefully [Carter Fox] will be ready to go. You’re down to just four teams in the Lower State and the cream rises to the top.”

Should Waccamaw and Dillon meet again, though, there will be a lot on the line and Dozier knows that.

“I got the best of him this time but I’m not counting my chickens before they hatch,” Dozier said. “I have respect for how he does things down here and he has kids that play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. I know he’s coming back with a plan and he’ll be coming. He does a great job and he has a top-notch program; you’ve got to respect that.”

But for now, Dozier has the bragging rights.

“[Dozier and I are] real good friends,” Gregory said. “He’s a good guy and he’s got my number.”

This story was originally published May 12, 2015 at 11:25 PM with the headline "Dozier, Dillon get best of Gregory, Waccamaw in matchup of friends, rivals."