Staggering losses from last summer have added up to nothing but wins for this year’s Rowan County American Legion baseball team.

When five stars headed for college, five big holes opened in the Rowan lineup and pitching staff. Amazingly, they’ve all been filled, to the tune of a 20-2 regular-season record and first place in the Area III Southern Division.

First-year head coach Jim Gantt’s squad opens the playoffs tonight at Newman Park at 7:15 against last-place Statesville (3-20). The best-of-7 series shifts venues each night.

“It’ll be tough,”Gantt said. “The first round is usually a scary round for me because you feel like you should win the series, but you may not go about it mentally focused. Down the road you expect the teams to all be good, to be able to beat you on any given night.”

Gantt is thrilled, not to mention a little amazed, by Rowan’s 12-2 showing in the conference and the No. 1 seed.

“I was very surprised,”Gantt said. “When you lose guys like (Brett) Peiffer, Brad Canipe at catcher; obviously pitchers like Brian Hatley and Daniel Moore — you don’t replace names like that.”

The biggest adjustment came on the mound, where a mixture of young returners and even younger rookies have limited opposing offenses.

Left-handers Julian Sides and Spencer Steedley are a combined 6-1. Hard-throwing right-hander Brandon Doby is 4-1 and North knuckleballer Phillip Goodman stands 1-0 with a 2.66 earned run average.

But in nine-inning, day-in, day-out Legion baseball, the pitching staff must be as deep as possible. And with last year’s returners came a crop of young, unknown hurlers who’ve quickly made a name for themselves.

West Rowan jayvee Daniel Cauble holds a 5-0 record, having allowed just five earned runs in 20 innings. East jayvee Jacob Cooper is 3-0 with a 2.64 ERA in 17 innings of work. And Tyler Morgan, another Mustang JV, is 1-0 in 121

“They definitely have a lot of ability, they’re just young and inexperienced,”Gantt said of the pitching staff. “You don’t always know what’s going to happen there.

“We do have experienced guys like Sides, Steedley, Goodman and Doby. Without them, we wouldn’t have done as well with the younger ones. They’ve really brought them along.”

Gantt said he would like to start Sides tonight against Statesville, but the crafty lefty is still recovering from a hip flexor and may be held back a start or two. Instead, Doby or Steedley will most likely take the mound.

No matter who pitches, he’ll likely have plenty of leeway thanks to a Rowan offense that averages better than 11 runs per game.

Again, it’s a mix of the old and the new. Returning leadoff man Cal Hayes Jr. paces the squad with a .471 batting average. Drew Davis also tops the .400 mark at .420 and Nick Lefko stands at .322 with seven extra-base hits.

The newcomers have been nothing short of spectacular, though. Steedley, who took just seven at-bats all last summer, is hitting .397 with eight doubles and two homers. Aaron Rimer, the regular rightfielder, is at .354 and leads the squad with 33 RBIs and four homers. Jimbo Davis, in left, also boasts four homers and is hitting .375. At first base, Shawn Trosper is .313, a strong singles hitter who keeps driving in the big sticks ahead of him.

And when any of the Rowan players get on base, look out — Hayes has stolen 19 bases, Lefko 15, Rimer 11 and Drew Davis 10. Rowan stole 13 bases in one game alone.

“It’s always nice to know you’re capable of scoring some runs,”Gantt said. “We have guys who can run, who are alert on the bases. That frustrates a pitcher when guys can steal bases. It gives our batters better pitches to look at, more fastballs because they know we can run.

“The players have been so alert on the bases, picking up rhythms and routines,”Gantt added. “They do a lot of stuff on their own. That’s the sign of intelligent players.”

Most importantly, they’ll just keep getting smarter and faster and stronger and better. Incredibly, 17 of the 18 players on this year’s playoff roster can return next season.

Only Trosper ages out under the current limit. Goodman and third baseman Cory Ruff have graduated from high school but have late birthdays that will keep them eligible for another season.

Thinking about how good Rowan will be next year is for much, much later this summer, though. Gantt already has seen the improvement from Game 1 to now, and can’t wait to see how the playoff race develops.

“They’ve played a season,”Gantt said. “Now it’s like they’re not first-year players, inexperienced players.”