Rowan lost to Lexington 10-9 at Holt-Moffitt Field on Thursday in the sort of back-and-forth game that Rowan has long made a habit of winning.

But not this time. Not even with Lexington stranding 14 baserunners. Not even with Lexington (6-8) making three errors. Not even with Rowan jumping out to a three-run lead. Not even with Rowan putting four straight men on base after there were two outs in a desperate ninth-inning rally.

“I still don’t think there’s anything wrong with this team at all,” said rightfielder Nick Lefko, who had four of Rowan’s 10 hits. “It was just a real tough loss. We just have to keep bustin’ it to bounce back.”

The loss counted in divisional play for Rowan (7-3 overall, 7-2 Western Division), but not for Lexington, if you can follow that brain-twisting logic.

“That means I had to worry about it a lot more than he (Lexington coach Tom McCarthy) did,” said DeHart. “He could do whatever he wanted.”

The game ended with Aaron Rimer taking a called strike three with the tying run 90 feet away and the go-ahead run at second base. But don’t blame Rimer, who had to come off the bench cold. It should never have come down to his pressure-packed at-bat.

It was not the best of nights for a couple of Rowan’s young hurlers, who by necessity have been flung into the fire. Josh Harbinson (East Rowan) and Brandon Doby (North Rowan), a couple of rising juniors, combined to give up 10 hits, which was OK, and 12 walks, which wasn’t. The duo also teamed for seven wild pitches and kept catcher Drew Davis on his knees.

“But the kids deserve their chance,” said DeHart. “They have to get their feet wet sometime.”

They do. But for the first time in a while, there are question marks in the Rowan rotation.

“You’re going to suffer some with kids,” said DeHart. “We just gave up too much tonight with our young pitching. Things like walks. Things like grand slams.”

Rowan was the victim of a grand slam for the second straight night. Nick Lockhart, the Central Davidson High star who was named the state’s 3A Player of the Year, unloaded off Doby in the fourth inning, lifting Lexington from a 6-3 deficit to a 7-6 lead.

DeHart said Davis, who had a ringside seat when Lockhart mashed a two-run homer against East Rowan in the state playoffs, warned him that Lockhart (hiding in the No. 6 spot) was dangerous as a hissing rattler.

“I thought we could handle Lockhart, sighed DeHart. “But you can’t handle him with a 15-year-old.”

“Nick’s hitting at No. 6, because we’re trying to get him some pitches to hit,” said McCarthy. “He hasn’t gotten to swing the bat much lately.”

Rowan walked Lockhart twice. In his other two at-bats, he slapped a double up the lopsided left-field bank and cracked a double off the right-field fence.

Rowan took charge early. Davis’ RBI single and Nate Woodburn’s two-run double made it 3-0 in the first inning.

Four Harbinson walks allowed Lexington to get two, but Rowan went ahead 5-2 in the second on an RBI single by Cal Hayes Jr. and a wild pitch that scored Shawn Trosper. Lexington got one in the second, but the red-hot Lefko drilled a run-scoring double in the third to push Rowan’s lead back to 6-3.

But in the fourth, Lockhart’s slam seemed to energize the crowd and his teammates, especially lefty pitcher Chase Younts, who had been struggling. Rowan’s lone run over the next three innings came when Woodburn and Brian Hatley executed a double steal in the seventh to pull within 8-7. Woodburn broke from first and drew a high throw, as Hatley darted home from third.

Lexington tacked on two in the eighth for a 10-7 lead, but Rowan appeared to finally pick up some momentum in that inning when Hatley relieved and fanned three straight batters.

But Hatley and Ben Hampton struck out against Lexington reliever Tripp Lockhart to start the ninth. Then, with Lexington one out away from a celebration, it got wild. Davis and Woodburn walked and Erik Mowery was hit by a pitch.

“It was strange,” said Lefko. “It didn’t look like it was going to even be close. Then, all of a sudden, we’ve got guys on and I’m up at the plate.”

Lefko came through again, knocking in two runs with a liner that short-hopped rightfielder Scott Wilson and bounded away. Two runs scored easily to make it 10-9 and DeHart nearly waved home BobbyParnell, who was running at first for Mowery. But DeHart held him.

A pitch to the lefty-hitting Rimer then danced in the dirt away from catcher Brent Walser — but not quite far enough away for Parnell to try to score.

“Almost,” said DeHart.

Then, on a 2-2 count, Rimer was punched out on a pitch that might have nicked a corner.

“This was a good win,” said McCarthy. “Division, out of division, whatever. Our kids were up, because that old rivalry with Rowan is still there. They’re a great team and we’re always motivated to play them.”

“It was the second straight night we’ve played a team that won its ‘World Series’ against us,” said DeHart. “But we’ll work through it. We’re not looking at one game. We’re looking at the big picture.”

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