Even Mother Nature couldn’t repress the Rowan County American Legion baseball team Friday night at Newman Park.

Post 342 withstood a 30-minute lightning-in-the-vicinity delay to beat visiting Concord, 11-5, securing a berth in the upcoming state tournament.

“Ah, that didn’t phase us,” coach Jim DeHart waved off after Rowan captured the Area III semifinal series three games to one. “We had a six-run lead at the time and I had Daniel Moore sitting up there in the bullpen. If they could score eight runs on him, then they would deserve to win.”

Instead, Moore adequately relieved spot starter Nate Woodburn, who was brilliant, as Rowan (25-10) dispatched Concord from the playoffs for the seventh time since 1985. The locals will meet either Kannapolis or Mocksville in the area championship series beginning Tuesday at Newman.

“This takes a lot of stress off us,” said Woodburn, the right-hander who allowed only three hits and one earned run in seven innings. “No matter what happens now, we know we’re in the state tournament. This gets us where we want to be.”

They used Woodburn as their vehicle. Blending a sharp fastball with an occasional curve, the North Rowan grad kept the ball downstairs and cleverly earned his first victory of the season.

“Fastballs low and away,” he revealed afterward. “That’s what kept me in the game. All these Concord guys have those big swings. It’s hard to pull a low-and-away fastball.”

Not surprising, Woodburn induced 12 groundouts. That’s not bad for a guy who expected to play second base all night.

“I didn’t even know I was pitching until five o’clock,” he said after making his first appearance on the mound in five weeks. “I had no idea. But when I got here Coach DeHart sat me down and said, ‘I need you.’ I’m glad it turned out OK because I’ve been lifting weights all week.”

Teammates Brett Peiffer and Cal Hayes Jr. must have been doing the same thing. Peiffer went 3-for-5 with a fifth-inning grand slam against losing pitcher Greg Tucker. He collected a career-best six RBI’s and totaled in nine in the four-game series.

“I knew (Tucker) didn’t want to walk in a run in that spot,” said Peiffer, whose first-pitch blast cleared the scoreboard in left-center and erased Rowan’s 4-3 deficit. “So he had to come to me. I was basically trying to pick up the runners from second and third, but he got a fastball up and I drove it.”

Hayes took lefty reliever Joseph Hollopeter for a drive of his own in top of the sixth. The speedy infielder highlighted a game-clinching four-run sixth inning with a three-run homer to left.

“A hanging curveball,” he smiled after going 3-for-4 and scoring three runs. “You gotta get those.”

All of the firepower came before the lightning but after Rowan had fallen behind in the top of the fourth. Three infield errors helped the visitors take a 3-0 lead.

“We looked like those Little League Bears, the Bad News Bears,” said DeHart. “I’m not big on meetings, but I went out there and tried to get them to focus. Then I let the captains (Moore and Brian Hatley) say a few words and they took it from there.”

Whatever was said, it must have been the phrase-that-pays because Rowan quickly cashed in. Perhaps the most significant hit of the game was Erik Mowery’s two-out, two-run single to left that tied the score 3-3 in the last of the fourth.

“To me, that was the biggest blow,” said DeHart. “That showed us we could hit this guy and win the game.”

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NOTES: Hatley will pitch for Rowan on Tuesday. Moore, who must attend an orientation in Chapel Hill Monday and Tuesday, will get the ball in Game 2. ... Martha Allen won the 50-50 pool for the second time this season. She collected $265.