Maybe that’s why Stanback sent a Hatley offering back, back, back and finally out of Staton Field when he led off the eighth inning on Wednesday night. Stanback’s blast gave the Wonders a stunning 2-1 extra-inning 3A South Piedmont Conference win over league champion East Rowan (20-4, 13-3) and apparently the No. 3 seed (by virtue of a tiebreaker with West Rowan) for next week’s SPC Tournament. Three SPC teams will make the state playoffs.

“I’ve known Brian since we were 8 or 9 back in Little League in Salisbury,” said Stanback. “I predicted he’d throw me a fastball and he did. I hit it.”

He hit it a mile— the biggest blow struck by a Wonder baseball player in recent memory.

“It was huge,” said Empsy Thompson, the Wonders’ fiery little first-year coach. “We were needin’ it. We needed a senior to step up and it was Marcello’s time.”

Kannapolis hadn’t beaten East in hardball in at least eight years and at least 20 games. There were no goalposts to tear down, so delirious Wonder parents and fans settled for hugging one another.

The cheers were loud for Stanback, maybe even louder for pitcher Bobby Helms, who threw four-hit ball over six innings in a game which was re-started in the third inning, the point at which rain poured down to postpone action on April 14. Helms would have logged a shutout had Cal Hayes Jr.’s slicing liner to right in the fifth not eluded JoshLee.

“Bobby was just a bulldog out there,” said Thompson of his senior ace.

That’s an accurate description. Odd things happened all around Helms — a bad throw here, a dropped pop up there — but he was an island of calm in a stormy sea. He pounced on bunts and covered first for outs in situations where average pitchers don’t make the play. All with a chipped bone in his ankle from an injury that occurred on opening day and almost shattered the Wonders’ season. Kannapolis was down to 1-6 in the SPC at one point. It finished in a rush at 9-7, after Helms returned.

Yesterday was the high-water mark of Helms’ career, much of which has been spent in heroic losing efforts for struggling teams. But, now, that’s all past history.

“Coming up here today and winning on East’s field with all their fan support was just awesome,” said Helms. “They’ve got a great program. Beating them — they’re can’t be nothing better. Hatley’s a good pitcher. You have to love pitching against someone like that. It just came down to who wanted it most. Tonight, it was us.”

Kannapolis scored first in the top of the fifth through no fault of Hatley (8-2). Two East errors set the table and Nate Amerson’s grounder to short got a run home.

East countered in its half of the inning when Adam Cornelius scored from first when Hayes’ shot went off Lee’s glove. East would have scored another run that inning, but Stanback, playing center, tormented Hatley then, too. He dove headlong and somehow caught a two-out line drive that would have meant extra bases for Hatley and would have plated Hayes.

“I had to catch it,” said Stanback. “I knew if I missed it, we’re down and it’s getting late.”

East’s golden chance was in the seventh. Hayes singled with one out and moved to second on a passed ball. Then Drew Davis drew a walk in a prolonged, tension-filled duel with Helms. That brought up Hatley, Rowan County’s leading hitter. Another ball trickled by Amerson, moving up Hayes and courtesy runner Nick Lefko a base, but it proved a blessing in disguise for the Wonders. Now first was open and Thompson happily waved Hatley to occupy it with an intentional walk. Brett Peiffer then grounded to short on a 1-0 pitch and Wonder Andrew Petty threw home to narrowly force Hayes. When Jeremy Alderman rapped to first, the inning was over.

“I was going to give Peiffer one swing and then squeeze,” said East coach Jeff Safrit. “That inning should have been the ballgame. We score there and Stanback never gets to the plate in the eighth. Hatley’s lost twice like that on homers (West’s Ben Hampton hit the other one). He wins both games if we do what we’re supposed to do on offense.”

After Stanback’s homer, Helms wasn’t going to let this one slip-slide away. He walked Bobby Clester to start the eighth, but then pounced on a bunt and got a force at second. Then he fanned pinch-hitter Jonathan Heyer and Cornelius to end the game in style.

“The problem with my team right now is the same one we’ve had all year. Only three guys are hitting. Seventeen others aren’t, and I don’t have to name names,” said Safrit, whose team has lost back to back for the first time.

The three who are hitting are obviously Hayes, Hatley and Davis. That trio of .400 batters has 93 hits. The rest of the team has 94. East desperately needs Peiffer or Heyer or somebody — anybody — to step forward as it heads to the postseason.