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Unbeaten Brian Hatley pitched his way out of an early jam, then handcuffed Watauga County the rest of the night as Rowan County took an important 3-1 American Legion baseball victory on Tuesday.
Rowan used the win at Newman Park to move into a tie with idle Mocksville-Davie for second place at 13-4 in the Western Division of Area III. Concord is in first place at 15-3 but must play Watauga (9-6) tonight and Mocksville-Davie on Thursday, both at home.
Hatley, now 5-0 with two saves, was in a 1-1 tie with the bases loaded and nobody out in the third inning at Newman Park.
From that point on, the right-hander retired 21 of the next 23 batters to get the victory.
“I mixed it up a whole lot more,” said Hatley. “At first,I tried to throw my fastball past them maybe a little bit too much.I couldn’t do it, because they hit the ball too good. ... I had to throw more breaking stuff and offspeed stuff, mostly just slider and curveball to keep them off-balance. That really was the difference right there.”
Hatley allowed four singles and two walks in the first three innings and hit a batter.
“I settled down and found my groove a whole lot more, and did a whole lot better,” Hatley continued. “That’s probably some of the best I’ve pitched all year as far as hitting spots, location and everything.”
Justin Thompson, Ben Crosswell and Brian Tester had consecutive singles to right to start the third inning, and Thomas scored from third on Tester’s hit. Zack Thompson walked to load the bases.
Hatley then got Matt Krause on a pop-up to the mound, struck out Jeremy Crosby, then got Steve DuQuay on a fielder’s-choice grounder that forced Thompson at second to end the threat.
“You have to give him credit for adjusting out there,” said coach Jim DeHart of Rowan, “bases loaded, no outs and not giving up a run. That’s vintage Hatley.”
Hatley, who walked three batters and struck out 10, gave credit to his defense, which played errorless ball.
“The defense worked their butts off tonight behind me, and I really appreciate it,” he said.
Offensively, Cal Hayes Jr. and Nate Woodburn each went 3-for-4, while Drew Davis was 2-for-3. Woodburn, Hatley and Davis each drove in a run. Davis’ hit-and-run single up the middle drove in what proved to be the winning run in the third inning.
“I thought we hit the ball well,” said DeHart. “We’ve got a couple of kids struggling with the offspeed pitch. I thought Woodburn had a good night. Hayes was on base. Hatley hit the ball hard, but right at somebody.”
Hatley singled in Rowan’s first run, flied to right, reach base on an error when his line drive was dropped by leftfielder Jeremy Crosby, lined hard to third baseman Ben Crosswell and flied to right again.
“We’re starting to come around. We hit the ball well tonight.” said Hatley.
Hayes, Rowan’s leadoff batter, was on base four times in five plate appearances, scoring his team’s first two runs. He was also hit by a pitch for the eighth time in the last seven games.
“I think I did pretty good tonight, better than I’ve been doing,” said Hayes, who hasn’t really been in a slump.He’s riding a 10-game hitting streak.
The Rowan shortstop said the team was fired up for Watauga, which had lost 6-5 to Rowan early in the season.
“Coach DeHart tells us not to take anybody lightly, so we came in with the same intensity that we play anybody with,” he said.
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NOTES: Rowan County travels to South Rowan High School hoping to square the count with local rival South Rowan at 7:15 p.m. today. Left-handers Julian Sides (2-1) of Rowan and Chris Morris (0-2) of South will be the opposing pitchers. ... DeHart’s pitching rotation the rest of the regular season will be Brandon Doby at home on Thursday, Daniel Moore at Kannapolis on Friday, Spencer Steedley at Stanly County on Sunday and Hatley again at home against Lexington-Davidson on Monday. ... Rowan is 14-7 overall. ... After Monday’s game with Lexington-Davidson, Rowan is not expected to see action again until June 26, when the second round of the Area III playoffs are scheduled to begin. Rowan is assured of a first-round bye.
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