BY STEVE HANF
SALISBURY POST

ASHEBORO— Lance Cole served notice one week ago that Rowan County would not run away with the Area III championship.

Wednesday night at McCrary Park, Rowan replied in no uncertain terms that it had recovered from whatever funk it was in and stood ready to claim that title.

Rowan rattled Asheboro’s ace for a season-high 19 hits and broke out for 15 runs to tie the best-of-7 series at 3-all. The 15-6 victory was Rowan’s second in two nights and pulled the team from a 3-1 deficit.

Thanks to Cole’s 17-strikeout performance in Game 1, Asheboro had Rowan on its heels from the start of the series. Following a close loss in Game 2 and a disastrous showing in Game 4, Rowan showed up and showed off the offense that helped build a 35-6 record.

“Maybe they were a little more determined,”Rowan head coach Jim Gantt said. “He made us look like Little Leaguers the first time.”

Still, the thoroughness of Rowan’s attack came as a surprise. Every player had at least one hit. Eight of nine starters scored at least one run, and seven of Gantt’s players drove in a run. Seven of the 19 hits went for extra bases.

“It kind of shocked us the way we came out and did a 180 and smashed this guy tonight,”said Rowan right-fielder Aaron Rimer, who collected four hits and drove in three runs.

“Lance didn’t get the low ball called for a strike this game,”Rimer added. “Today he had to get the ball up a little bit and we just ripped it.”

Rowan wasted no time, scoring three runs in the first inning. Cal Hayes Jr. beat out an infield single, then stole second base before the next pitch with Cole standing behind the mound and nobody covering second.

After a Drew Davis single, Jimbo Davis grounded one up the middle and Rimer rocketed a line drive to right-center that rolled to the wall for a 2-0 lead.

That brought Nick Lefko to the plate for the greatest at-bat of the game. He got behind in the count, then worked it full, then fouled off four pitches. Finally, on the 10th pitch from Cole, Lefko launched a drive to deep left-center that banged off the scoreboard for a double and 3-0 advantage.

“His fastball was a little off,”Asheboro head coach Tony McKee said. “He had more trouble spotting it and threw his change and curve a little more tonight.”

Cole (9-2) threw 37 pitches in the first inning, and his night was only getting worse. Bobby Parnell led off the second with a line single, bringing up Michael Gegorek in a bunting situation. He popped it up, Cole dived and missed, then threw wild to first.

Hayes singled home Trosper, Drew Davis walked and Jimbo Davis rocketed a liner to the wall in right field to extend the lead to 6-2. Rimer’s single through the left side of the infield made it 7-2.

Rowan gave starting pitcher Brandon Doby five more runs in the fifth, finally chasing Cole with a couple of base hits and Spencer Steedley’s shot to dead center that dropped at the wall for a double and 10-2 lead.

Jimbo Davis and Rimer followed with run-scoring liners of their own for a 12-2 margin.

“Baseball’s all about momentum,”Rimer said. “We started out really slow with the bats this series. We’ve got confidence now, and once you’ve got that … I hope we come out the same next game.”

Asheboro (31-13) scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth to end Rowan’s shot at the 10-run rule. Doby exited after seven and Tyler Morgan retired six of the final seven Asheboro batters to thwart any final comeback hopes.

McKee hustled his players into the right-field corner for a long post-game chat, but told them to forget about the last two losses.

“I didn’t expect either one of us to sweep the series, but I didn’t expect both teams to play defense the way we have at times,”McKee said. “It’ll probably come down to the ninth inning again tomorrow night, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

With the position Rowan found itself in earlier this week, a thrilling Game 7 conclusion sounds like an OK alternative to losing in five.

“I feel a lot better now,”Gantt said. “But sometimes a team can use all that energy battling back and can’t get over the hump.

“I know one thing, though— you’d better get there early if you want to get a seat.”

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NOTES: Phillip Goodman will start for Rowan tonight at Newman Park at 7:15, while Michael Stefanacci or Seth Pitt will go for Asheboro. … Jimbo Davis drove in four runs, while Hayes scored four. … Gegorek, batting ninth, drove in a run with a triple down the left-field line after working a 3-2 count against reliever Adam Elliot in the sixth. He later scored on a Hayes single.

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