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Rowan County, behind ace pitcher Daniel Moore, is off to a fast start in the quarterfinals of the Area III American Legion baseball playoffs.
With left-hander Moore pitching one-hit shutout ball and striking out 16 batters over eight innings, Rowan downed visiting King 7-3 at Newman Park on a rainy Tuesday night.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series will be played at King at 7:15 p.m. today.
Rowan also won the opener of its second-round, best-of-seven series with Mooresville behind Moore last Monday. Coach Jim DeHart’s club went on to sweep that series.
“I think it’s always crucial (to win the opener),” said DeHart. “It’s very important, because you never know when it’s going to rain and they revert this thing back.”
Rain has caused some playoff series to be shortened in past years, so the team that gets the early lead has an advantage.
Moore, now 5-1, dominated King during his eight innings on the mound. The only hit, a blooper to shallow left field by Justin Masencup in the fifth inning, was lost in the lights by Rowan left fielder Ben Hampton.
“That’s part of baseball. No-hitters are rare,” said Moore, who walked six batters. “You can pitch a great game, and somebody will stick the bat out there and get a base hit. It was unfortunate the way it happened. He lost the ball in the lights.”
Masencup’s blooper was the only ball hit to the outfield by King’s lineup of nine right-handed batters.
“Either way, I don’t know if I would have pitched the ninth or not,” Moore added, “because I was getting kind of tired. I’m going to be going on three days rest if we’ve got to go to Game 5. I didn’t want to go out there and get worn out and not be any good in Game 5. I threw 120-something pitches. I was up there pretty good.”
Rowan, of course, hopes there won’t be a Game 5. DeHart will send right-hander Brian Hatley (6-0) against King tonight, while left-hander Julian Sides (3-2) is expected to pitch at home in Game 3 on Thursday.
Moore had to pitch in the rain from the fifth inning on, but didn’t blame the weather on his six walks.
“I had real good control, better control that I normally have. I think I was trying to nibble on the outside corners a little bit more, because I didn’t know these guys. I hadn’t pitched against them before, so I didn’t want to give them anything too good to hit. That leads to more walks, but one hit’s not bad,” said the left-hander.
Rowan wrapped up the victory by sending 11 men to the plate against King starter Will Jones and relievers Andrew Larrimore and David Stroup in the sixth inning, when Rowan scored five times. Moore had a long wait in the dugout during that inning.
“I was looking for a breather, because it was kind of like I sprinted through the first innings. Then I got that breather. It was just like I caught my second win,” he said.
Moore snapped King’s 12-game winning streak. Coach Robbie Mendenhall’s team won its last nine regular-season games before sweeping three games from Wilkes County in the second round of the playoffs. King, like Rowan, drew a first-round bye.
“This was somebody we hadn’t seen, and it’s a new challenge. You don’t know what they have, and you’ve got to go into it pretty much blindfolded. You’ve just go to do your job,” said Moore.
Rowan, the No. 3 seed, improved to 20-9, reaching the 20-win plateau for the 11th straight year. King is now 18-11.
DeHart said Moore would have pitched the ninth inning if the game had been close. Instead, it was 7-0 going into that final inning.
“We want to bring him back the fifth game, if necessary, so we tried to keep his pitch count down,” said DeHart. “If they score seven against our pitching, then we don’t need to go back over there (to King).”
Right-hander Brandon Doby came on to pitch the ninth, giving up doubles to Masencup and Ben Booth and walking two batters. He went two-thirds of an inning before being relieved by southpaw Sides.
“Doby didn’t have it tonight. They don’t have it every night,” said the coach. “Sides came in and did the job.”
Sides, after two straight batters reached on errors, got Stroup on a called third strike to end the game.
Coach Mendenhall of King said, “Moore’s tough. He was every bit as good as we were told he would be.”
As for his own starting pitcher, Jones (1-3), Mendenhall said, “At the beginning of the season, we were thinking he would be our No. 1. He’s signed to pitch at UNC Asheville. He had a great school season at R. J. Reynolds High School. He hasn’t thrown as well for us this summer, but with him being 18, already signed and used to these pressure situations, we felt like he would give us as good a showing as anyone we have.”
Jones, with the exception of eight walks, pitched well until Rowan’s big sixth inning. He allowed only three hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Mendenhall said young southpaw Jason Duncan (from North Forsyth High) would be on the mound tonight. Duncan, 3-0, has been a Carolina Vikings AAU teammate of several Rowan County players.
“We have five kinds that have thrown in the rotation,” said Mendenhall. “We feel like any of them at any time can step up and do the job. Duncan has thrown some big games for us. He’s young. We just felt like it would be a better situation to throw him in Game 2 at home.”
Right-hander Eric Hendrix is scheduled to start Game 3.
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NOTES: King’s Masencup, 2-for-4, was the only player in the game with two hits. ... Shawn Trosper’s double was Rowan’s only extra-base hit. ... Hatley drove in two runs for Rowan, the first with a single up the middle in the opening inning and another with a fielder’s-choice grounder in the sixth. ... Hatley, Brad Canipe and Cal Hayes Jr. stole bases for the winners.
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