Not always, but often enough, the beauty of baseball revolves around something called the Law of Averages.

We all know what it means. You win some, you lose some. You’re riding high in April, shot down in May. One day you’re a Louisville Slugger. The next, you’re the ball.

“Sometimes you make your own breaks,” acknowledged Rowan County first-baseman Shawn Trosper. “And sometimes they just come to you.”

The breaks fell Rowan’s way Saturday night at Newman Park, where Post 342 marched right back into its Area III championship series with a 5-4 win over Asheboro.

“That’s all it’s gonna be from here on out,” said losing coach Tony McKee. “It’s all the small things. It’s who gets the breaks. It’s who can take care of the little things.”

Little things like turning double plays in the first, second and fifth innings that rescued RC’s Phillip Goodman — the starting pitcher who provided some much-needed relief. “They were all big,” he said after tossing six gutsy innings. “They all saved something.”

And little things like part-time starter Bobby Parnell, a .222 hitter entering the game, contributing a run-scoring single and a sacrifice fly. “Everyone on this team wants to help us win,” he offered. “That’s what it all comes down to.”

Then there was Jimbo Davis’ two-run, Baltimore-chop single to left against a drawn-in infield that snapped a 2-2 tie. “They hit where we weren’t,” said McKee. “That’s what wins ballgames.”

There were others, like center-fielder Nick Lefko forcing a runner at second base on an apparent sixth-inning Texas League single by the muscular Michael Stefanacci.

But perhaps the biggest break — and most costly mental gaffe — came in the top of the first inning, after Asheboro had taken a 1-0 lead. The visitors had runners at the corners with one out when Brett Welch pushed a slow grounder toward first base. Trosper fielded the ball and stepped on the bag — eliminating the force — before firing to second base, where shortstop Cal Hayes tagged late-breaking Ben Yow for an inning-ending DP.

“Trosper made a great throw from a difficult angle,” said Goodman. “That definitely saved a run.”

It almost didn’t. “What surprised me,” said Rowan coach Jim Gantt, “was that the runner from third didn’t sprint home on the play. If he had scored before that last out, that run would have counted.”

That runner was Asheboro’s best-of-breed shortstop Brett Andrews. “I don’t think he was aware of the situation,” McKee said while munching a post-game snack. “He expected it to be a conventional double play. It sure looks a lot bigger now, doesn’t it?”

It sure does. Same goes for the Rowan twin-killing in the top of the second. Asheboro had doubled its lead on Stefanacci’s towering leadoff homer and was threatening to blow the game open — reaching Goodman for a two-base hit and a hit batsman with nobody out.

But the right-hander defused the rally, first by fanning Austin Oliver and then inducing leadoff man John Pugh to ground a lazy ball to second-baseman Michael Gegorek, who tagged one runner and threw on to first for a crucial double-play.

“If any little thing had gone wrong, that could have turned into a disaster,” said Goodman. “That was a real heads-up play by Mike.”

Rowan’s final double-play helped Goodman escape more potential trouble in the fifth. Andrews lined a leadoff single to left but was quickly erased on a 6-4-3 DP, aided by an interference call at second.

“Good pitchers always find ways to win,” said Trosper. “Those double-plays were big breaks for us. When you’re in a hole and you turn two, you just kind of breath a sigh of relief.”

It was a welcome sight for the Newman faithful, many of whom have watched Rowan seemingly self-destruct in the first two games of this series.

“One thing people forget is that at the beginning of the year, this was a rebuilding season,” Gantt pointed out. “Then we’re lucky enough to win a few games and all of a sudden we’re the Yankees. We’re not supposed to make any mistakes and we’re supposed to win every game. Remember, you’ve still got to play hard, make every pitch count and get a few breaks.”