NC State baseball recruit pitches perfect game against Pine Forest in NCHSAA playoffs

Pine Forest baseball didn’t bring its best Tuesday evening in the first round of the NCHSAA playoffs.

Unfortunately for the Trojans, Apex Friendship pitcher Luke Hemric did.

An NC State baseball recruit, Hemric brought an elite performance to Fayetteville with a perfect game as the Patriots secured a 9-0 road win in the 3A East bracket.

“Hemric threw really well. Perfect game in the first round of the state playoffs is dealing,” Pine Forest coach Tom Willoughby said.

The left-handed ace had 15 strikeouts, including four in a row for the final outs to send the 13th-seeded Patriots (15-11) to Friday’s second round against No. 7 Corinth Holders (17-6).

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Once the final out was recorded, Jentz Steiner had his phone ready to take a selfie with Hemric near the mound as the Patriots’ celebration huddle hovered toward second base.

After watching senior second baseman Trey Davia snag a line drive out of the air in the sixth inning to keep the perfect game intact, Hemric said he knew “something special was gonna happen.”

“I like the pressure. I love being in the spotlight. I feel like, for me, when I’m in the spotlight, I perform for the best,” Hemric said.

“Even if it wasn’t a perfect game, if I just went the complete game and we got the win, that’s all that matters to me. But I love competing in the spotlight, especially under these bright lights here.”

Here are two other takeaways from Pine Forest’s playoff loss to Apex Friendship.

Apex Friendship’s big innings

The Patriots put up crooked numbers in consecutive innings with four runs in the fourth, followed by three runs in the fifth to take a 7-0 lead. They added two more runs in the seventh.

“We didn’t have our best stuff on the mound and made some errors in the field that got them going in the fourth,” Willoughby said. “They kept applying the pressure. It’s a really good team.”

Eight of Apex Friendship’s 12 hits were doubles as five players finished with multiple hits. The 10th-seeded Trojans (13-11) also had two errors to contribute to their struggles.

“They had hits, scored runs, and we kind of flattened out a little bit,” Willoughby said. “We gotta get the energy back up as quick as possible.”

Pine Forest has ‘bright future’ 

Despite a bitter end to their season, the Trojans made the playoffs for the first time since 2018 with a roster of mostly underclassmen.

Pine Forest could return seven of the nine players in Tuesday’s starting lineup, including sophomore standouts Isaiah Pinero and Jayhlen Brown.

“The future’s bright. I’m really looking forward to the guys returning,” Willoughby said. “They’ll compete. They gotta get stronger over the offseason to be able to compete against arms like (Hemric). I’m looking forward to it and the future is bright.”

Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Pine Forest baseball on wrong side of perfect game in playoff loss