1918 Western Carolina League — Season Recap
Weavers spin first WCL title
Cooleemee outduels top-seeded Mooresville in playoff series
The Greensboro Patriots might be a woeful North Carolina State League baseball franchise. But their farm team has been first rate. Greensboro’s “junior” team won the 1915, 1916 and 1917 Developmental League championships after finishing third in 1914. Now known as the Cooleemee Weavers, the Pats’ junior team won again in the inaugural year of the Western Carolina League.
Cooleemee finished second in the regular season standings to Charlotte’s D-League team, the Moorsville Moors (see standings below). But the Weavers, who were 11 games back, swept the best-of-three playoff series against the Moors in two straight, a 7-4 Game One victory in front of 870 delighted home fans and then 3-1 in Game Two in Mooresville.
First baseman
William Sullivan (pictured above), who would go on to be named the WCL’s Most Outstanding Batter, put the Cool in Cooleemee during the playoff series. He was 5-for-8 in the two games, hitting a home run and a triple. He had three RBIs and scored three runs. Sullivan was drafted by Greensboro in 1914, and it’s still a mystery why he and some of his stellar teammates aren’t up with the Big Club yet. “At least we’ve got Cooleemee,” Greensboro fans said with a sigh in 1914. "'Cause there ain't much on the Big Club."
Sullivan batted .307 during the 90-game season, with 93 hits, 10 doubles, eight triples, six home runs and 27 RBIs. Interestingly, Sullivan was the only player in the WCL to hit better than .300. Wow. He led the league in 10 different categories.
Charlotte already has some pretty good pitching arms on its Big Club, and there is another in the pipeline. Mooresville right-hander
Logan Lorn (pictured above) went 18-3 for the Moors, with a 0.97 ERA to earn the Western Carolina League’s Most Outstanding Pitcher award. He struck out 144 batters — not too shabby for 23 starts. Lorn, 21, was the first pick in round two of the 1914 draft.
Lorn pitched a one-hitter and three two-hitters during the season. One of his two-hitters covered 10 innings.
FINAL WESTERN CAROLINA LEAGUE STANDINGS
Code:
Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10
Mooresville Moors 61 29 .678 - 59-31 2 30-15 31-14 6-0 20-9 Clinched W5 7-3
Cooleemee Weavers 50 40 .556 11.0 50-40 0 26-19 24-21 8-5 23-15 W2 8-2
Statesville Owls 48 42 .533 13.0 46-44 2 22-23 26-19 6-5 17-17 L2 3-7
Hickory Rebels 45 45 .500 16.0 46-44 -1 26-19 19-26 7-8 20-20 L2 6-4
Lexington Indians 43 47 .478 18.0 41-49 2 20-25 23-22 3-2 13-14 W2 6-4
Mount Airy Graniteers 23 67 .256 38.0 29-61 -6 12-33 11-34 1-11 5-23 L13 0-10