Nathan Woodburn and Brandon Doby came through in the late innings, and Rowan County got off to a winning start in the Area III American Legion baseball title series Tuesday night.

Rowan rallied for a 6-4 victory over Kannapolis at Newman Park after trailing 4-1 in the sixth inning.

Woodburn’s clutch two-out single in the bottom of the eighth tied the score, and he scored the go-ahead run on the front end of a double steal with Brian Hatley. Hatley added an insurance run on Brett Peiffer’s single.

“I knew that was a big at-bat. I had flied out the previous two times. I just wanted to get that run in,” said Woodburn, who drilled a single up the middle.

“That was real big,” said DeHart. “We manufactured that (three runs) with two outs and nobody on. Cal Hayes gets hit by a pitch and steals second, then Woody gets that big hit.”

Woodburn went to second on the throw from the outfield to home, then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Hatley then walked, setting up the double steal.

Hatley broke for second, then stopped between first and second, getting in a rundown. Second baseman Steve Swann threw to catcher Zach Gurley.

“I just slid around the tag,” said Woodburn, whose run gave Rowan a 5-4 lead.

“Then Peiffer comes up with a big hit also (line drive to left),” said DeHart. “Brett’s a pressure hitter anyway.”

Doby, relieving Hatley after seven innings, retired six straight batters — four by strikeouts — to get the victory and improve his mark to 2-1.

Kannapolis, which started the playoffs as the No. 9 seed, came into the series with momentum after downing No. 4 Mocksville three games to two Saturday night.

Coach Joe Hubbard’s Kannapolis club took advantage of five Rowan errors and was in charge of the contest until that eighth inning.

“We played terrible,” said coach Jim DeHart of third-seeded Rowan. “It was just one of those games that I hope don’t come very often, because we didn’t deserve to win. They (Kannapolis) didn’t play very well either, but I thought they played better than we did. We were just fortunate that we got hits at the right time in the late innings.”

Four of Rowan’s errors led to four unearned runs off right-hander Hatley in Kannapolis’ sixth inning. Three were infield miscues.

“I think it was the worst infield defense of the season, but I’m not concerned about the defense. They’ll bounce right back,” exclaimed DeHart.

Rowan (26-10), for the fourth straight best-of-five series, won a series opener and will be going for a victory tonight with left-hander Daniel Moore on the mound at Kannapolis’ Veterans Field at 7:15 p.m. today.

Coach Hubbard’s Kannapolis club (21-14) has been led on the mound all season by right-hander Bobby Helms, but Hubbard doesn’t know if Helms will be ready tonight.

“He threw nine innings (Friday’s Game 4 victory over Mocksville),” said Hubbard. “We were going to try to give him as much rest as we possibly could. If we had kept the lead going into the ninth inning, we would probably have brought him in to close it.”

Will Helms’ start tonight?

“We’ll just have to wait and see. We’ve got to talk with him and see what happens,” said Hubbard, whose pitching staff had to work hard to defeat favored Mocksville. “We threw about all our pitching and almost extinguished everything,” the coach added.

Kannapolis came into the championship series as the surprise team of the season. After going 12-9 overall during the regular season and finishing fourth in the Western Division, Hubbard’s team downed Lexington three games to two, top-seeded Eastern Randolph 3-1 and Mocksville 3-2.

“We thought we played real well tonight. We came out here and got the lead; we just couldn’t hold onto it. They just got a couple of big hits. ... We’ve just got to forget about it. All year long we’ve lost some tough games. We’ve had to come back the next night and play hard, which we’ll probably do tomorrow night (tonight),” said Hubbard.

Doby replaced Hatley to start the eighth inning after Hatley threw 100 pitches. Hatley also said after the game that he was not feeling well and would be going to the doctor today.

Doby, a starter for North Rowan during the high school season, has won twice in relief in the playoffs.

“Doby was great,” said DeHart, who has used the right-hander as both a starter and reliever.

“I’ve had a lot of bad days and I’ve had a lot of good days. I had nothing to lose: We were down by one. I just came in and I was throwing not worrying about where I was throwing,” said Doby, who appeared relaxed and was throwing heat.

“That’s the most relaxed I’ve felt all season,” he added.

Doby thought back to a 21-0 Rowan victory behind Moore’s one-hit pitching at Kannapolis on June 16.

“I think we were taking them a little too easy, because the last time we played them it was 21-0. It’s hard not to take somebody easy when you beat them 21-0. I don’t think we were ready like we should have been,” said Doby.

“They’re a darn good team. You’ve got to be good to get this far,” he added.

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NOTES: Rowan stole eight bases, including two each by Hayes and Hatley. ... Both Rowan and Kannapolis have already earned berths in the state tournament at Granite Falls near Lenoir July 28-Aug. 2, but Area III commissioner Gaither Keener said last night the pairings have not yet been determined. The first game will be played at 10 a.m. on July 28.