Obviously, there was Adam Cornelius, who drove in as many runs with one swing as he had knocked in during the high school season. Cornelius delivered one of those moments that people will be talking about at water coolers from Landis to Spencer today.

But there was also South pitcher Drew Lyerly.

Lyerly, 5-8 and 150 pounds or so, has the innocent, wide-eyed look of a kid who’s lost his way and is trying to find the rest of his Cub Scout pack.

But the recent East Rowan graduate found himself at Newman Park last night. Lyerly, making only his second appearance for the South team, was tremendous over the final 5 2

Lyerly’s first appearance for South had not been a pleasant one. He’d been greeted by a flurry of line drives in a disheartening extra-inning loss at Mooresville.

That’s why some people were surprised when South coach Allen Wilson summoned Lyerly to replace starter Chris Morris, who had walked five batters in the fourth inning to hand Rowan two runs. Others weren’t even sure who he was.

“Who’s No. 28?”

“From the size of him, has to be Lyerly.”

“Oh.”

South’s lead was down to 9-4 and the bases were loaded for Hayes with one out when Wilson handed Lyerly the ball.

“Morris pitched his butt off, gave us a chance to win this game,” said Wilson. “But the plan was to go to Drew if Morris ran into trouble. Hey, Drew can pitch.”

Lyerly was the No. 4 pitcher for East this year, someone whom Jeff Safrit could always count on to come out of the bullpen throwing strikes. He had an ERA of 2.37 and struck out more than a batter per inning for the Mustangs.

“Drew shocks people. He comes up to about right here,” said Wilson, holding a hand roughly between his waist and shoulder. “But he can throw his fastball 80 miles an hour and it explodes on you. He can also throw a pretty good slider right at your knees.”

Lyerly fired a pitch to Hayes, All-State and destined for All-American, and the Rowan star whacked it toward the left-field line.

South third baseman Jeremy Teague, yet another Mustang, was playing a step from the bag. He snatched the hard grounder, touched the bag for an out, then threw across the diamond to stretching first baseman Daniel Pinyan for a rare double play on Hayes.

Just like that, the inning was over — ended by a play that Rowan coach Jim DeHart declared was even bigger than Cornelius’ grand slam.

“I’m just telling myself to keep it low, keep it low,” explained Lyerly. “Keep it down, get a ground ball that my defense can handle.”

Lyerly would get two more double-play grounders, both of which finally deflated Rowan.

Peiffer singled to start the sixth against Lyerly, but Hatley followed with a hard grounder to shortstop Jared Barnette. Barnette flagged it down, flipped to second baseman Ronnie Shore, and Shore turned it over, with Pinyan coming up with another huge scoop at first.

Davis singled to open the seventh, but Lyerly struck out Brad Canipe. Then with Davis running, Nate Woodburn hit a smash up the middle.

Barnette, who had thrown the ball all over the place one night before, made another great play, grabbing the ball, tagging the bag, literally hurdling the incoming Davis, then making an accurate throw to Pinyan.

Lyerly helped himself with his feet, too. In both the fifth and eighth innings, Ben Hampton smacked grounders toward right field. Both times, Pinyan crawled on his belly to knock the shots down. Both times Lyerly got over to cover first for outs.

“The fundamental things,” said Wilson. “Drew does that stuff pretty good. Tonight, the whole team did.”

Lyerly set Rowan down 1-2-3 in the eighth and ninth, getting some more help from centerfielder Derick Efird, who made like a human cannonball, flying through the air to pounce on Canipe’s line drive in the ninth.

It was an evening when South’s defense made every play — a night when Lyerly, who didn’t walk a batter, made every pitch.

“We felt like if we played our very best we could beat them,” said Lyerly. “And we did it. It feels good. Yeah, just so good.”

It was a performance that even Lyerly’s high school mates who are now his adversaries, could appreciate.

A smiling Peiffer was talking to Lyerly after the game. He wasn’t smiling because he lost, but because he was happy for a long-time teammate.

“Drew just never stops amazing me,” said Peiffer.

Last night, he amazed everyone.

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