ASHEBORO— There was no yelling and screaming after Tuesday night’s game.

No long faces or dashed hopes, either.

The South Rowan American Legion baseball team simply took its loss and — probably with a sigh of relief — bid a fond farewell to Asheboro ace hurler Lance Cole.

Cole used a strong fastball and even better curve to strike out 15 South batters in Asheboro’s 5-1 win in the opening game of the best-of-7 Area III Final Four series. Cole baffled so many of the South hitters that the “K Card”signs displayed by a local radio station almost stretched off the McCrary Field press box.

“There are baseball games when you just have to tip your hat to the pitcher and come back and play tomorrow,”South head coach Allen Wilson said.

Because tonight, when the series resumes at South Rowan High at 7:15, Cole won’t be pitching again.

Of the 10 players in South’s lineup, all but centerfielder Adam Cornelius fanned at least once. Cole was perfect through three innings with six Ks and made one mistake all night — a hanging curve to Aaron Safrit that landed well over the fence in left field.

Safrit’s seventh homer of the summer, a solo shot in the top of the seventh inning, was one of just seven hits, and Cole walked only one batter.

“He had the location, he pitched ahead in the count, went in and out,”Wilson said. “He wasn’t throwing 90 mph, but he pitched a great game.”

And the rising senior from Asheboro High didn’t tire late, earning the complete game on 132 pitches and ending the contest with a strikeout.

“I didn’t know anything about him, just that he threw hard and had a good curve,”South catcher Justin Pinyan said. “It (the curve) was nasty.”

In accepting the loss and moving on, Wilson voiced just two complaints.

The normally reliable South defense committed five errors Tuesday night, although none of them factored into Asheboro’s runs.

And, South starter Nick Mayle threw well enough to win.

“I hate we wasted that game from Nick Mayle,”Wilson said. “I’m tickled to death with the way he threw.”

The lefty surrendered four singles in the bottom of the third, one of them on a bunt, as Brett Andrews and Brett Welch drove home the game’s first two runs.

In the sixth, Kyle Pugh singled, stole second and scored on Michael Stefanacci’s hard hopper up the middle for a 3-0 lead, and Asheboro worked a little more magic in the bottom of the seventh to answer Safrit’s blast.

John Pugh opened the frame with a bunt single and Andrews followed with another. Brian Yow’s double made it 4-1, and Andrews scored the final run on an infield out.

Mayle, who didn’t walk a batter while striking out four, surrendered 11 hits over seven innings, but four of them didn’t leave the infield.

“It’s situational,”Asheboro head coach Tony McKee said. “Some guys who are laying down bunts can hit it out of the ballpark, too.”

Of course, when you’ve got a guy like Cole on the mound, there’s nothing wrong with playing “littleball.”

“He’s only lost once this year,”McKee said. “He throws lots of strikes and gives us a solid performance every time out.”

South’s just happy that the next time out won’t come for another few days.

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NOTES: Expected starters for tonight are Adam Earnhardt for South and Stefanacci. … Ronnie Shore ended Cole’s perfect game with a solid single to lead off the fourth. He finished with two singles. … Rightfielder Raymondo Brady injured his ankle in the fifth chasing one of South’s errors that trickled his way. He had to be helped off the field and was replaced by Andrew Morgan. … Brandon Hiatt, the South reliever who had been sick coming into the series, pitched a perfect eighth inning.

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