Raiders give game to CPC for Tabor

SALISBURY POST

South Rowan (6-11 overall, 0-6 CPC) made six errors on Monday night and paid the price, absorbing an 11-1 pounding from league middle-of-the-packer Mount Tabor. Three of the Raider miscues came in a first inning that definitely set a nasty tone for the entire evening. With better defensive support, South starter Chris Morris could have escaped the opening inning unscathed. Instead, Morris had to keep tossing pitches until the Spartans’ Ben Kaplan finally got to him for a big two-run single.

South didn’t have a good night in any phase of the game. In the estimation of coach Dwayne Fink, it was because his team was still replaying Friday’s bitter loss to Davie over and over in its heads.

“Friday against Davie we’re playing a great ballgame until the sixth,” said Fink. “Then we had walks and errors and gave up a four-run lead. We let that one get away. And I believe that game was still hurting us mentally tonight. I think that’s what you saw out there.”

South has had as many difficult losses as anyone this season. And not just the Davie game. There was a 5-4 loss to R.J. Reynolds on a bizarre call on the last play of the game. And there were 3-1 losses to both Salisbury and East Rowan.

Through it all, the Raiders have kept bouncing back like a rubber ball.

“We really have,” said Fink. “I’ve been proud of this team. Things haven’t gone our way all that often, but we’ve kept right on battling. We’ve kept believing.”

At least until last night. In this one, the Raiders just never could find any sort of spark, coming up with fewer base hits (five) than errors.

Shortstop Ronnie Shore did have three hits to pump his batting average to .429, but the sophomore was the lone bright spot for the Raider offense. South didn’t scratch until the bottom of the sixth, and by that time it trailed 8-0. Tim Cook drove in Shore with a ground out for South’s only run.

Meanwhile, Mount Tabor (11-7, 3-4) rang up runs in clusters. The Spartans put five on the scoreboard in the fourth with the help of two more South errors and tacked on a three-spot in the seventh for a little icing.

“Mount Tabor hits the ball well,” said Fink. “That’s what everyone you talk to says about them. And when you put the ball in play as much as they did against a team that had as many fielding lapses as we did, well, you’re bound to get hurt.”

And Mount Tabor was certainly ready, willing and able to put a hurting on someone.

According to first-year head coach Melvin Palmer, the junior-laden Spartans have suffered six of their seven losses by a single run. So when the Spartans finally got someone down big, they smelled blood and poured it on.

“It was great to win by a big margin for a change,” said Palmer. “This was a good one for us. We’ve been making a lot of young mistakes, but tonight we got great play from a lot of people.”

David Stroup was the winning pitcher, locking down South bats for the first four innings. Justin Plummer had three of the Spartans’ 13 hits. Chris Bryan scored three times.

The good news for Fink is that South won’t have long to dwell on this one. The Raiders travel to hard-hitting West Forsyth on Thursday, then face West Rowan in a first-round game in the Cliff Peeler Baseball Classic at Staton Field on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Raiders lost 20-10 to West Forsyth at South. They have split two games with the Falcons.