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GRANITE FALLS — Daniel Moore knows nothing about North Raleigh, and he’s glad.
“I don’t know a single name or face. It is easier that way: Just go after them,” said Rowan County’s star left-hander.
“You don’t have anything to think about. There’s not a guy on the team that’s hit you good; there’s not a guy on the team that hasn’t hit you. You just really go into it blind. You just show them your stuff. If they can hit it, they can. If they can’t, you come out on top,” Moore added.
Rowan (28-11) meets North Raleigh (18-10) at 7 p.m. today in the first North Carolina American Legion State Tournament at M.S. Deal Stadium. North Raleigh edged Hickory 3-1 on Friday morning.
“We feel, if we play the way we’re capable of playing, we shouldn’t worry about what they have. We’re just going to take them as they come,” said Moore, who goes into the contest with a 6-1 record and a 2.11 earned run average.
Coach Jim DeHart and assistants Paul Benfield and Jason Kluttz watched North Raleigh defeat Hickory.
“They’re a good defensive ballclub,” said DeHart of North Raleigh’s Area I runner-up team. “They made all the plays. It just seemed like everything they did was right. They weren’t overpowering like I thought they’d be. Hickory stayed with them.
“I think Daniel will have a good game against them. They (Hickory) pitched a left-hander against them. He’ll hold his own real well against them. They hit to the opposite field pretty good, but we’ll take care of that.”
DeHart, after last week’s three-games-to-one victory over Kannapolis in the Area III finals, was concerned about the right arm of his other ace pitcher, who will start Rowan’s second game at either 4 or 7 p.m. Sunday. Brian Hatley, 8-0 with a 2.40 ERA, had a sore arm after pitching seven innings in Game 1 of that series.
“Brian’s arm is great now,” said DeHart, who plans a rotation of Moore, Hatley, left-hander Julian Sides and right-hander Brandon Doby in the double-elimination tourney.
“I’ve been taking some medicine for it the last couple of days. I threw some the other day. Everything’s good now,” said Hatley, who plays third base or occasionally first base when he’s not on the mound.
“It was on the outside of the elbow. It’s sore a little bit. A little time off has helped a whole lot. I think it’s just from that King series. Maybe pitching two days in a row didn’t help,” Hatley said.
He was referring to the Game 2 of the Area III quarterfinal series. He pitched three hitless innings before the game was suspended by rain, then threw four more innings the next night in a 17-6 romp.
Rowan is 12-2 in the playoffs. DeHart’s club swept three games from Mooresville, then three from King. Concord won Game 3 of the Area III semifinals before Rowan wrapped it up in four games. Rowan also downed tough Kannapolis in a four-game series that ended with a come-from-behind, 16-14 Rowan win at Kannapolis.
Rowan, which has scored 52 runs in its last five games, has five regulars hitting over .300.
Shortstop Cal Hayes Jr. is the team batting leader with 60-for-150 and a .400 average. He’s tops in hits with 60, first in runs with 61, second in runs batted in with 39, first in doubles with 12 and first in stolen bases with 31. Hayes was 9-for-14 in the last three games of the Kannapolis series.
Second baseman-outfielder Nate Woodburn has raised his batting average to .370 after going 8-for-17 against Kannapolis.
Hatley, who finished the Kannapolis series going 5-for-5, is now batting .364. He’s second on the team in runs with 49, third in hits with 52 and second in stolen bases with 24.
Versatile Drew Davis, who has started at third base, second base, left field and catcher, is hitting .361 after bouncing back from a shoulder injury in June.
Center fielder Brett Peiffer, the team leader with seven homers, has a .331 mark. He’s also the club RBI leader with 40 and is second in hits with 53.
Left fielder Ben Hampton is No. 2 in homers with six and third in RBIs with 37. He and Peiffer share the club lead in extra-base hits with 15.
Other top pitching records include Sides at 4-3 with a 4.38 ERA; Doby at 3-1 with a 3.45 ERA; and Spencer Steedley at 5-1 with a 3.41 ERA. Philip Goodman has thrown only 13 innings, but is 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA.
Moore not only has the best ERA for starters, but he’s tops in strikeouts with 108 in only 64 innings.
Hatley has thrown the most innings, 8223, striking out 95 batters and walking only 12.
Sides has 61 strikeouts in 6123 innings.
Hatley and Sides have each recorded two saves, while Doby has one.
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NOTES: The Rowan-North Raleigh winner will meet the Cherryville-Whiteville winner at 7 p.m. Sunday. Last night’s scheduled game between Cherryville, the Area IV champ, and Whiteville, the Area II runner-up, was rained out and reset for 10 a.m. today. The Rowan-North Raleigh loser will take on the the Cherryville-Whiteville loser at 4 p.m. Sunday. ... Kannapolis, the other Area III representative in the state tourney, knocked off Area I champion Wayne County 7-6 on Friday afternoon. Host Caldwell County, the Area IV runner-up, then defeated Wilmington’s Area II champs 3-2. ...Wayne County came into the tourney as the winningest team with a 32-6 record. One win behind Wayne County was Wilmington at 31-3, Caldwell at 31-8 and Cherryville at 31-9. ... Cherryville is riding a hot streak, winning 25 of its last 29 games while bidding for its third state crown in four years.
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