MOORESVILLE — South Rowan’s road to success remains under construction.

That much was demonstrated Saturday night at Mooresville High School, where American Legion Post 185/146 committed five errors and saw its modest winning streak interrupted at three games.

“We didn’t play well at all,” coach Allen Wilson said without hesitation after South sleepwalked through an 8-2 defeat. “Five errors. That’s terrible. We can’t play like that. That’s not our game.”

It was an atypical performance for South (3-9/6-12 overall), which solidified its grip on seventh place in the league standings with two games to play. The locals never teed off against sidewinding lefty Brent Frye — who scattered seven singles in his first complete game — and their defense was rather offensive.

“We haven’t played like this since the beginning of the season,” said first-baseman Aaron Safrit. “We made mental errors. We didn’t concentrate at the plate or in the field. It just wasn’t us.”

Teammate Greg Deal had to agree. “I don’t think we showed up,” he said. “We came out dead tonight. You would think that after three straight wins we’d be fired up. There was no fire. It looked like we came here to play nine innings and go home.”

Second-place Mooresville (9-4/14-9 overall), on the other hand, played an opportunistic game. Half of its runs were unearned, making a tough-luck loser out of South right-hander Michael Davis.

“We capitalized on every mistake they made,” said longtime Mooresville coach Whitey Meadows. “At least it seemed that way. I know they’ve been on the road a lot and sometimes it’s hard for a team to get going. But they just played a lackluster game.”

It didn’t start that way. Davis and Frye matched zeroes for two innings before the Moors tallied three unearned runs in the bottom of the third. The game’s first run scored when Kyle Allison served an opposite-field single to left, the third of four consecutive hits off Davis.

Misplays by South left-fielder Matt Morgan and catcher Jeremy Alderman followed, allowing Mooresville to mount a 4-0 lead. “They’re a good team,” said Wilson. “The thing is you can’t make mistakes against them. No matter if it’s Statesville or Concord or Rowan or Mooresville, you can’t give runs away.”

South gave them away like they were pieces of Halloween candy. Two-out errors by Safrit and third-baseman Deal helped the hosts extend their lead to 5-0 in the fifth inning. “You’ve got to make the routine plays,” said Deal. “We didn’t. We gave them extra baserunners.”

Not until the top of the sixth did South place a runner on second base. It was Deal, who had popped out and grounded out in his first two at-bats against the crafty Frye, who reached on an infield smash off the pitching rubber and advanced to second on a bounce-out. He made it to third on a wild pitch and scored South’s first run when Safrit lined a two-out single to left.

“That pitcher threw slow,” Safrit explained. “But he was effective. We’ve been seeing pitchers throwing it in the high-80’s and low-90’s the last three days. Then we see this guy throw it like 60. Sometimes that’s all it takes.”

Frye, who beat league-leading Rowan earlier this spring, had South’s hitters lunging for his off-the-plate change-ups and curveballs. Then he’d slip a darting fastball in some unhittable spot.

“That’s what he does,” said Mooresville catcher Seth Graham. “He makes you hit his pitches. He’ll keep everything away, just out of the strike zone. Then when you’d start to creep up on the plate, he’d bust one inside. He was smart.”

South trailed 8-1 before plating the game’s final run in the top of the ninth. Brad Matthews reached on a two-base error, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored when Raymondo Brady lofted a sacrifice fly to center-field.

“I give all the credit to their pitcher,” said Wilson. “He’s the reason we lost. That and all the mistakes we made.”

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NOTES: Infielders Ronnie Shore and Justin Miller tried out new positions — sitting. Both have wrist injuries and are day-to-day. ... South concludes its league season with games at Stanly County tonight and at Kannapolis on Wednesday.