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OLIN— There was no shortage of runs or strange ways to get them Wednesday night in Rowan County’s easy American Legion win.
Ben Hampton’s two-run drive — landing halfway between home plate and first base — highlighted Rowan’s 15-2 win over Statesville at NorthIredell High. The mismatch between the Western Division teams ended after seven innings due to the 10-run lead rule.
Rowan (4-1 overall, 4-0 league) scored six runs in the second inning, including a 180-foot scamper home on a wild pitch, and added three more runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Two more runs in the final two frames topped last night’s total in a 15-14 loss at Asheboro.
“We hit it well enough, I don’t think we needed any luck,” Rowan head coach JimDeHart said.
Hampton’s hit was among Rowan’s oddest and luckiest run producers. With his team already leading 11-2 in the fifth inning, Hampton stepped up with two outs and runners on first and second. The Rowan catcher sat on the first pitch and skied a popup on the infield that finally came down between three Statesville players.
The ball hit hard in front of the pitcher just along the first-base line and bounced high into foul territory. The home plate umpire didn’t make a sound as Brett Peiffer and Brian Hatley raced home and Hampton cruised safely into second. The ump ruled the ball nicked off pitcher Raymond Bustle’s glove and was fair.
He was the only one — just about — who saw it that way.
“I didn’t know what happened. I just kept running,” Hampton said. “That was the shortest two-run hit I’ve ever had. Coach DeHart came over and told me I was lucky on that one.”
Hampton plated another run in Rowan’s second-inning outburst, this one a bit more legitimate. Ten Rowan batters strolled to the plate, chasing starter Michael Gilbert after just 1 2/3 innings.
Nick Lefko opened the inning with a walk and later scored when Michael Blount got caught in a rundown off first base. Shawn Trosper then doubled and scored on a balk to make it 3-0, and Cal Hayes Jr. came home on a slow roller to short that Brett Peiffer beat out.
Peiffer stole second and was running for third when Gilbert uncorked a wild pitch. The ball bounced to the screen, catcher Wes Jordan couldn’t find it and didn’t get any help as Peiffer scored easily for a 5-0 edge.
“I looked over at Coach and said I wanted to steal third,” Peiffer said. “It got behind the catcher and he never saw it. They just had a bad night. That happens in baseball.”
A Hampton double accounted for the fifth run of the inning and he scored on one of four errors by shortstop Justin Wolfe.
Statesville got two runs back in the bottom of the third inning, which included a catcher’s interference call and a seeing-eye grounder off the first-base bag. Lead-off man Josh Lewis doubled and scored to make it 7-1 before Statesville loaded the bases.
Gilbert cued a soft grounder to first that beat Trosper to the bag — literally. The ball caromed toward second, allowing Gilbert to reach safely and score one run, but Drew Davis scooped up the loose ball and gunned home to nab Eric Barnes and end the threat.
“That was odd, but it was a heads-up play by the team,”DeHart said. “They let Drew know the runner was breaking for home. We played very alert tonight.”
Starting pitcher Spencer Steedley stayed away from trouble after the third inning. The Legion rookie improved to 2-0 after allowing five hits and striking out six in five innings.
“Steedley did a good job,”DeHart said. “He wasn’t as sharp as he was at Boone, but he didn’t have a 7-0 lead there, either, and that’s always a factor.”
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NOTES: Julian Sides came on for the final six outs, surrendering a hit and a walk while striking out four in a tuneup for Sunday night’s Surry County game, which counts in the league standings. … DeHart joked that Steedley’s next pitching assignment would come in front of the crowd at Newman Park. Steedley toiled in obscurity in Boone and for a meager Statesville crowd Wednesday.
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