BY STEVE HANF
SALISBURY POST

GARNER— The encore turned out as unbelievably dramatic as the initial offering — and ended just as painfully for Rowan County.

Nobody knows exactly what happens when Rowan and Asheboro meet, but the teams have a penchant for producing some exciting baseball. After battling seven games in the Area III championship series last week, Asheboro jumped to a huge lead Saturday, survived a stunning 10-run inning from Rowan and managed to win the American Legion State Tournament elimination game the same way it won Game 7 — on a wild pitch.

“It’s like Yogi said, ‘Deja vu all over again,’ ” saidAsheboro head coach Tony McKee, referring to one of Yogi Berra’s most recognizable inane quotes.

Rowan catcher Drew Davis put it another way:

“It was a rollercoaster, to say the least,”he said. “You got that feeling, ‘Here we go again.’ ”

Errors led to Rowan’s demise in the area series and factored into Saturday’s 14-13 defeat as well.

Rowan faltered just nine times in a 45-game season. Incredibly, five of those losses came at the hands of Asheboro.

Starting pitcher Brandon Doby opened the game with two outs on three pitches, then walked Ben Yow on four pitches. Doby induced a grounder to third base to end the inning, but Bobby Parnell’s throw across the diamond popped out of Spencer Steedley’s glove. Michael Stefanacci delivered a two-run double, and Parnell’s high throw to first made it 3-0 just like that.

When Doby walked to the mound in the second, he again found himself in a tie game. Rowan scored three times in the bottom of the first, but two walks set up Yow’s three-run homer and Asheboro led 6-3.

“The first two innings really killed us,”Rowan shortstop Cal Hayes Jr. said. “We came in and caught right back up, but it could’ve been a lot different.”

Asheboro’s lead increased all the way to 11-3 by the sixth inning. Doby and relievers Daniel Cauble, Cory Ruff, Bobby Parnell and Tyler Morgan had trouble throwing strikes and Asheboro took advantage.

Amazingly, of the 14 runs Asheboro scored, five of those players reached on walks, four more were hit by pitches and another reached on an error.

“I think our youth really came out against better competition,”Rowan head coach Jim Gantt said. “Unearned runs are what beat us. It was just concentration.”

With that youth comes unbridled enthusiasm, too, and Rowan raced back into the game with one of the greatest innings in Legion history. A 10-run sixth inning put Rowan in front 13-11.

Now it was Asheboro’s turn. Austin Oliver, the No. 9 man in the order, added to his amazing game by walking and scoring on Brett Andrews’ double in the seventh. Oliver was walked three times and scored after every free pass. He also drove in a run with a fifth-inning single.

Steedley took the mound in the eighth and surrendered a single to Kyle Pugh. Slugger Stefanacci squared to bunt and missed twice, but prepared to give himself up again when Steedley’s 0-2 pitch dropped low and hit him on the foot.

A sacrifice bunt and intentional walk loaded the bases and it happened again: on a 1-2 pitch to Brent Cole, Steedley’s curveball bounced in the dirt and rolled to the screen, scoring Pugh with the tying run.

After a groundout, Oliver faced an 0-2 count and watched a fastball bounce in the dirt and hop high off Drew Davis’ mask, scoring Stefanacci.

Stefanacci had been at the plate in the ninth inning at Newman Park last Thursday when a Steedley wild pitch scored the winning run in that contest.

“The first one was a curve,”Davis explained. “We had to get a strikeout in that situation. Otherwise they were going to score any way. The second one was a fastball that was short. That happens.”

For Steedley, the cruel ending was too much. The look of bewilderment on his face as he rushed in to cover home on the second wild pitch turned to anguish and tears in the dugout as Rowan tried to mount its comeback.

“It’s a dang bad coincidence that it happened,”McKee said. “There were so many things that went on, those wild pitches wouldn’t have meant squat.”

For their part, the Rowan County players simply assumed it was another part of the rollercoaster ride, that another peak was around the corner. But as in the seven-game series, Rowan couldn’t come through — the three runners stranded in the bottom of the eighth made for 14 in the game.

In Game 7, the total was 16.

“We heard an Asheboro fan yell, ‘Curse of the wild pitch.’ I wasn’t worried because I figured we’d get some more runs,”Rowan left-fielder Jimbo Davis said.“We just gave them too many.”

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Contact Steve Hanf at 704-797-4287 or shanf@salisburypost.com .