Aaron Rimer cleared the bases, and South Rowan left runners stranded at Newman Park Saturday night.
Rimer’s first career American Legion home run, a grand slam in the second inning, sparked Rowan County to an 8-3 Southern Division baseball victory over its county rival.
Rowan improved to 7-1 overall with its fourth straight win and 2-1 in the league.
South, which dropped to 1-4 and 2-6, left 15 runners on base, including three in three different innings.
Coach Jim Gantt’s Rowan club held a 2-0 lead when Rimer came to the plate with the bases loaded in the sixth. He hit his homer to left-center to make it 6-0.
“I was sitting on the fastball, and he (South left-hander Nick Mayle) threw it. That ‘s exactly what I was looking for,” said Rimer, who added a fifth RBI with a fielder’s-choice grounder in the fourth.
“With Drew (Davis) and Jimbo (Davis) behind me, it’s just get on base and let them do it, normally, but tonight I guess I just got lucky,” said Rowan’s No. 2 hitter.
Rowan, which also got a leadoff home run to center by Cal Hayes Jr. in the first inning, has now hit eight homers in its eight contests.
“We’ve got power when we need it, but we mainly hit line drives, which is what we’re supposed to do,” said Rimer.
Gantt has said since the preseason that he doesn’t have a power-hitting team, but points out that all eight games have been at hitter-friendly Newman Park.
“Thank goodness we were here,” said Gantt. “A lot of routine fly balls go for home runs here. We can’t rely on that. We stand around and wait on that, we’re going to be in trouble.”
Gantt said, however, that playing at home early in the season isn’t necessarily an advantage, referring to past seasons when he was an assistant to Jim DeHart.
“It used to be in the past we always worried about playing with young guys at home, because of the crowd and the way they get on people. Just people being in the stands is enough to make you nervous. We were always afraid, especially pitchers, to put them on the mound at home. We always wanted to throw them on the road until they got their confidence up, then bring them in,” he said.
One of Gantt's young pitchers, left-hander Spencer Steedley, is off to a 3-0 start at home after pitching the first five innings last night. He allowed only three hits, but reached his pitch count and was relieved by right-hander Phillip Goodman, who got the save.
South was held hitless by Steedley through four innings, thanks to a great diving catch by centerfielder Nick Lefko, who robbed Ronnie Shore of a hit in the fourth. Adam Cornelius broke up the no-hitter by leading off the sixth with a single.
Rowan and South will meet again at 7:15 p.m. today at South Rowan High School, an unusual back-to-back matchup caused by a change in the original league schedule.
“It could be an emotional letdown the next night,” said Gantt. “But you play against the game. You don’t necessarily play against your opponent. We’re going to play our game, and it shouldn’t really matter who we’re playing as far as the opponent.”
Coach Allen Wilson of South doesn’t mind the back-to-back games.
“That’s fine with me. We’ve got to play them sometime. I kind of like a little mini-series like this,” he said.
South matched Rowan’s nine hits, but came up short in runs.
“I told them it was enough (runners left on) to fill up a bus,” quipped Wilson. “With runners in scoring position, we’ve got to get the job done. That’s my job as coach to help these guys relax at the plate and win the game.”
Brandon Doby (2-1) will start for Rowan tonight, while Mike Davis (1-1) will pitch for South.
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