BY DAVID SHAW
SALISBURY POST

STATESVILLE— South Rowan’s closing argument just grew a little more convincing.

With the American Legion baseball playoffs a week away. Post 185/146 has picked an ideal time to turn up the heat on its Area III, Southern Division competition.

The latest piece of evidence was presented Friday night, when South pan-fried host Statesville, 14-1, for its third consecutive victory.

“We can’t be ignored any more,” outfielder Raymondo Brady said after South improved to 3-8 in league play and 6-11 overall. “Not the way we’re playing right now.”

Indeed. South punched out a season-high 16 hits, batted around in two separate innings and received effective pitching from starter Nick Mayle and reliever Brandon Hiatt.

“This is what I was hoping for,” said South coach Allen Wilson. “You never know after a big win like we had the night before (4-3 over Concord). There was a chance they would come out flat tonight. We had to warn them to be ready to play.”

He needn’t have worried. South scored four times in the top of the fourth to snap a 1-1 tie, then exploded for eight runs — all unearned — in the ninth.

“We’ve been hitting the ball well all year,” Matt Morgan explained. “Only now, everyone’s starting to get serious about playing and winning. This is a great time for our team.”

Last night was a great time for Morgan, who went 4-for-5 with a stolen base and the game’s first RBI. Brady added a pair of doubles, including a two-run crunch down the left-field line that made it a 3-1 ballgame.

“They were throwing me curveballs all night,” he said. “I just turned on that one and hit it hard. I feel like I’m seeing the ball real well. Confidence brings more confidence. That’s what’s spreading around here.”

It spread to Mayle (2-2), the southpaw who earned his second win this week. He allowed one run on six hits and struck out five Statesville batters in 523 innings.

“He did a good job on the mound,” said Wilson, who yanked Mayle with a 6-1 lead, two out and the bases loaded. “But he had thrown 92 pitches and we didn’t want him to go over a hundred. We could see he was getting a little tired. And Brandon hadn’t pitched in three or four days so we wanted to get him back out there.”

Hiatt was equally impressive. First he induced Steven Hancock to bounce back to the box to escape the sixth inning. Then in the seventh he sandwiched three strikeouts around a South error and a Statesville base hit. He worked a perfect eighth and sealed the deal with a 1-6-3 doubleplay and a lineout to shortstop Ronnie Shore in the ninth.

“There’s a very good feeling on this team right now,” said Brady. “We’re in a good mood. Everybody’s relaxed, everybody’s confident and we’re playing together. The best part is we’re starting to win like we knew we could.”

Wilson feels Brady has played a key role in South’s U-turn. “The last two or three days we’ve noticed him start to come alive again at the plate,” the coach noted. “He went through a little lull like all baseball players do, but it looks like he’s back and we’re real happy for him.”

The same goes for Morgan, who notched his second four-hit game. “He’s starting to figure it out,” said Wilson. “He’s driving the ball again.”

South is enjoying its first three-game winning streak of the season. It cleaned out the basement when it beat Concord ace Brian York on Thursday. Now the locals have their sights on the first floor.

“We don’t care about convincing everybody else,” Wilson insisted. “We need to convince ourselves that we’re back in this. We don’t care what other teams think, or newspaper or radio guys think. We’ve just got to keep getting better, taking those small steps and make sure we’re ready to play every night.”

South plays a key league match at Mooresville tonight.

n

Contact David Shaw at 704-797-4256 or sports@salisburypost.com .