Cox Mill baseball was unranked in preseason. Now the Chargers are No. 1 in Sweet 16

Every team can use a little motivation, and the Cox Mill High baseball squad got some before the season started.

The Chargers were picked to finish fifth in the seven-team Greater Metro 4 4A Conference.

With 10 seniors, most of whom are college commits, and several talented young players, the Chargers thought they were underrated.

Now, Cox Mill has moved into the No. 1 spot in The Charlotte Observer’s Sweet 16 regional baseball poll. The Chargers were unranked in the preseason.

“I told them that they needed to prove it on the field,” Cox Mill coach Grayson Butler said.

That’s what the Chargers are doing this spring.

They took a 14-1 record into Monday evening’s home nonconference game against Bluffton (S.C.), and the team has clinched at least a tie for the Greater Metro 4 title with a 10-0 record and two conference games remaining.

The Chargers already have beaten defending 4A state champion T.C. Roberson and perennial baseball power Hough, which happens to be Butler’s alma mater.

“I knew they’d be pretty talented,” Butler said. “But they really put in a lot of hard work in November and December to prepare for this.”

The Chargers have a team batting average of .370, have power scattered throughout the lineup, are strong defensively, and have several good pitchers.

“We have a great lineup — 1 through 9,” said catcher Evan Estes, a Cleveland Community College (Shelby) commit who is hitting .368. “We have a great lineup, and we pick each other up.”

Butler is no stranger to winning baseball. He played for several state powerhouse teams at Hough, under former head coach Jimmy Cochrane. After graduating from Hough in 2014 and playing at Anderson (S.C.) University, Butler became an assistant at Hough in 2019. He moved to Cox Mill in 2020 and became head coach this season after Eric Brown left to coach at his alma mater, Richmond Senior.

He said much of his coaching style was molded by Cochrane but added that he learned a lot while working under Windell Robertson and then Brown at Cox Mill.

“Coach Cochrane got us to play with a belief in ourselves,” Butler said.

He said the key to this year’s success is building a foundation.

“We have an approach to the game, and it’s based on fundamentals,” Butler said. “We try to stay locked in. We set our foundations, and that gives us something to fall back on when adversity comes.”

Such was the case March 5, when the Chargers traveled to Roberson and fell behind early in the game.

“We just played our style of baseball and battled back,” said center outfielder Braylon Whitaker, a Wingate commit. “We rallied and finished it off.”

He said that 5-3 victory was proof to the team that “we can go a long way and play for a state championship.”

Whitaker leads the team in most offensive categories. He’s hitting .481, with 25 hits, 23 runs and eight stolen bases. Catcher Colin Pritt, a Shepherd (WV) College commit, is batting .500, with seven doubles, 23 hits and 22 runs. Other offensive leaders include Estes; shortstop Brett Cassell, a Southeastern Community College (Whiteville, N.C.) commit who is batting .318 with four doubles; and sophomore Gavin Barber, with three home runs.

“Everyone in the starting nine can hit it out of the yard,” Pritt said.

The primary starting pitchers are junior Jackson Caldwell (1.62 earned run average) and senior Aiden Anderson, with Whitaker frequently getting the call as the finisher.

“I’m really impressed with our pitchers,” said Estes, the catcher. “They work around the strikes zone and don’t let the little misses get to them.”

Players say the key this season is working together.

“We will continue to play well, just as long as people don’t try to do too much,” Pritt said.

“Early on, I knew were were better than fifth,” Estes added. “Now we’re getting to the point where it’s us with a target on our backs. It’s a different challenge, but we can handle it.”

Butler said the tough schedule, designed by Eric Brown before he left for Richmond Senior.

The Chargers face Myers Park and Butler later this week, before finishing regular-season play next week against third-place South Iredell.

Cox Mill ranks second this week — behind T.C. Roberson — in the 4A West RPI ratings.

“It’s a good schedule,” Butler said. “We’re in a really tough conference, and we’ve got to be ready. This schedule has helped our guys get an opportunity to do something special.”

The Observer’s Sweet 16 poll

▪ Nine new teams join this week’s Sweet 16 poll, including new No. 1 Cox Mill.

Note: records are through Sunday.