It wasn’t quite perfect, and head coach Jim Gantt wasn’t quite satisfied.
But Rowan County’s performance in Game 5 of its Area III championship series against Asheboro sure beat Game 4, and this time Rowan came away with a win.
“Unbelievable,”Gantt said of Tuesday’s 10-8 victory at Newman Park. “We make them the toughest wins we can ever get, but at this point, I guess just winning is the big thing.”
Rowan (34-6) rocked Asheboro for eight runs in the third inning, then held on as both teams tried — and failed —to return to the form that led them to the championship series in the first place.
Asheboro (31-12) pecked away over the final six innings and left the tying runs on base in the top of the ninth after an error, Rowan’s first of the game but 15th of the series, extended the game by one more out.
“We had a chance to control our bleeding, they had a chance to stop their bleeding and neither one of us could do it,”Asheboro head coach Tony McKee said. “Last night we had the big inning, tonight they had the big inning.”
Asheboro manufactured an unlikely run in the second against Rowan starter Julian Sides for a 1-0 lead. Big first baseman Michael Stefanacci singled, took second on another hit and then stole third on a missed bunt attempt. When Brian Clodfelter got picked off first base, Stefanacci headed home and made it without a throw.
Rowan responded with its biggest inning of the series and finally got a little help from the Asheboro defense.
Cal Hayes Jr. opened the third inning by beating out an infield chopper. Drew Davis walked, setting up a sacrifice bunt attempt from Spencer Steedley. Pitcher Chris Powell grabbed the ball in front of the mound and fired high to first, bringing Hayes in to tie the game.
After Jimbo Davis’ RBI groundout, Aaron Rimer, Nick Lefko and Shawn Trosper all singled to load the bases. Bobby Parnell ripped a 3-2 liner to center that scored two runs, then a third when the ball got past John Pugh and rolled all the way to the wall.
Cory Ruff reached on another Powell throwing error, which brought on reliever Daniel Cox. He promptly hit Hayes, walked Davis and walked Steedley on four pitches to make it 8-1.
Finally, with the series on the line in the elimination game, Rowan could relax a little.
“I think that helped out a lot,”Hayes said of the big inning. “It took a lot of pressure off Julian and the defense. It gave us room for some mistakes.”
Sides gave up three straight singles to open the fourth but did a nice job of getting out of the frame with only one run scored. He opened the fifth with two strikeouts, then watched as Stefanacci lofted a high fly off the wall over a leaping Jimbo Davis in left that scored two runs. The next man up, Brian Clodfelter, stretched his amazing string to eight hits in his last eight at-bats with a rocket two-run homer off the scoreboard to make it 8-6.
In the ultimate act of one-up-manship, though, Hayes followed Ruff’s lead-off walk with a screaming liner that bounced high off the scoreboard for his fifth homer of the summer. The lead was back to four runs at 10-6.
“I was just looking to get a hit to put the runner and myself in scoring position,”Hayes said. “I made good contact.”
A weary Rowan pitching staff appreciated the leeway. Sides surrendered one more run in the seventh before Daniel Cauble came on in relief to end an Asheboro threat. Cauble then retired the side in order in the eighth using his full repertoire of off-speed pitches to keep Asheboro off balance.
“He (Gantt) just told me to get ahead in the count, throw strikes,”Cauble said. “I’m not near the power-pitcher like Julian and the rest of the them. I rely on my changeup mostly.”
Ben Yow opened the ninth inning by appearing to get way under one of Cauble’s slow deliveries. But the ball carried all the way to the wall in center for a double and Yow scored two batters later on a sac fly.
After a Stefanacci single, the dangerous Clodfelter stepped to the plate, his streak now at 9-for-9 in Games 4 and 5. He grounded sharply to third for the apparent game-ending play, but Parnell’s throw to first popped out of Steedley’s glove.
Finally, on a 3-2 pitch to Cole Mullinax, Cauble coaxed a high pop on the infield that Hayes managed to grab even after Clodfelter ran into him. Had Hayes dropped the ball, second base umpire Cecil Mock was ready with the interference call.
“It got a little wild there toward the end,”said Cauble, relieved at the win and Rowan’s improved performance. “We came out with a better mindset tonight. Last night we just weren’t into it and tonight we were a lot stronger right off the bat.”
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NOTES:Brandon Doby will take the mound for Rowan tonight in Asheboro with a chance to force Game 7 Thursday back at Newman Park. Lance Cole, the Post 45 ace, is his likely opponent. … Hayes and Mock had a run-in in the top of the ninth — literally. On a slow grounder up the middle, Hayes raced over, fielded the ball —and had nothing but the umpire in his sights. He scrambled to get clear and threw out Kyle Pugh by a step. “I tried to get out of his way and throw it as hard as I could,”Hayes said.
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Contact Steve Hanf at 704-797-4287 or shanf@salisburypost.com.
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