South falls to West

BY STEVE HANF
SALISBURY POST

South Rowan’s baseball team didn’t have a good night, and head coach Dwayne Fink had just said as much in the team’s meeting following a 9-6 loss to West Rowan.

“I’m completely embarrassed with the way we played,” Fink said. “We just completely gave that game away.”

The Falcons took advantage of six South errors to score five unearned runs. When West’s lead was threatened in the fifth and sixth innings, Raider outs at third base ended both scoring chances.

“One thing we’ve done this season is play excellent — almost flawless — defense,”Fink said. “To come out here and see this tonight, I just can’t make any sense of it.”

South’s first error of the game prolonged the first inning, and the Falcons had no qualms when it came to capitalizing. Catcher Ben Hampton slammed a triple to score Jared Barnette, then DrewCallicutt’s grounder was misplayed and Hampton came home.

In the bottom half, Callicutt wasn’t sharp from the mound. He walked Brian Yon and hit Ronnie Shore, then surrendered an infield single and two-run double to Daniel Pinyan.

After West tied the game at 3-all in the top of the third, Shore, Greg Deal and Pinyan each slapped consecutive singles and scored for a 6-3 advantage. As the Falcons ran into the dugout, head coach ChrisCauble gathered them together.

“We came out flat after a big win, beating North Rowan with (Daniel)Moore on the mound,”Cauble said of Monday’s opener, a 1-0 victory against the Cavaliers’ ace. “I gave them a big speech before the game started and then another one in the fourth inning.”

This time around, the Falcons were ready to hear what Cauble had to say. DavidTerry singled and scored on a Matt Morgan fielder’s choice, then Ryan Schenk doubled home Morgan to cut the lead to 6-5.

The tying and go-ahead runs came in the fifth, when Callicutt and Kiel Williams reached on errors and Morgan brought them home with a two-out single. Just to be on the safe side West added two more runs in the seventh, again on a two-out error.

“After our coach gave us that little talk about the fourth inning, I think we settled down,”said Hampton, who finished 3-for-4. “We got the point and figured we had a job to do.”

Reliever John Brooks did his job when he came in to pitch in the bottom of the fifth. South had scored six runs off six hits and six walks through four innings, but Brooks allowed only two hits and two walks.

In the bottom of the fifth, South’s Matt Benfield reached third base after two wild pitches, and with two outs Craig Haas walked. Haas took off for second on the first pitch and Hampton received the pitch, fired to Brooks on the mound and Benfield was caught off third thinking the throw was heading for second.

Derrick Efird then walked with one out in the sixth inning and stole second before Yon flew to medium center field. Morgan made the catch, fired a strike to relay man Jared Barnette, who in turn delivered another perfect throw to Schenk, and a tagging Efird was out.

“We did a lot of little things good, like the relay throw from the outfield,”Cauble said. “That’s something we work on every day, and I hope the players see how it pays off when you do it right.”

For the Raiders, who couldn’t do any of the little things right, Fink hopes the gist of his postgame lecture also got through — you’ll pay if you don’t do them right.

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notes: South mounted a two-out rally in the seventh when Pinyan and Morris reached second and third. Cauble called on Josh Overcash, who got the last out on a grounder to short. … Pinyan finished 3-for-3 with three RBIs. … A sizeable crowd turned out for the matchup of close county rivals.