STATESVILLE— The game that nearly never started took quite a while for RowanCounty to put in the win column.
After waiting out a 70-minute rain delay and falling behind, the Rowan offense exploded for 11 runs in the eighth and ninth innings for a 16-5 victory. Sunday night’s road win gave Rowan a 2-0 lead over Statesville in the best-of-7 series in the AmericanLegion playoffs.
“They were up 5-2 and we decided we weren’t going to lose the game,”said Rowan leftfielder Jimbo Davis, who drove in five runs. “That’s the thing about us; we don’t fall apart.”
Rowan proved that fact to Statesville all too well for the second straight night. In both games of the series, the Area IIISouthern Division’s last-place team has made a game of it before watching No. 1 seed Rowan assert itself in the late innings.
A heavy rain kept both teams in the dugouts until 8 p.m. When the game finally started at 8:25, it looked as though Rowan would need more help from Mother Nature to wash out a bad start and give the team a day to regroup.
Statesville sent eight batters to the plate in the bottom of the first, scoring two runs — one earned — off Spencer Steedley. The left-hander threw 32 pitches in the opening frame and avoided an even rougher start when he left the bases loaded.
Rowan (22-2) countered with two runs in the top of the second on three straight singles from BenHampton, Nick Lefko and Cory Ruff. Statesville starter Tim Hancock, a hard-throwing right-hander, struck out seven through the first four innings, though, and Rowan trailed 5-2 after Josh Lewis’ double in the fourth brought home two more unearned runs.
“The rain delay got us off the subject of wanting to win the game,”Hampton explained of the early deficit.
Rowan head coach JimGantt wasn’t happy about that.
“Statesville was ready to play,”he said. “Their pitcher did a good job and they had key hits.”
Rowan got to Hancock again in the fifth inning, scoring two runs on Jimbo Davis’ opposite-field single after Aaron Rimer reached on an error andDrew Davis walked. Hancock avoided further trouble, but had to leave the game having thrown 119 pitches in just five innings.
While striking out eight, Hancock also walked four and threw five wild pitches.
Drew Davis walked to open the seventh to set the stage for Hampton, who rocketed a triple to the fence in right field to tie the game at 5-5.
In the eighth, Michael Gegorek walked to start the frame. That brought Cal Hayes Jr. to the plate, who was 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts. Nobody at the Statesville High School field thought Hayes capable of an 0-fer, and he delivered the go-ahead run with a screaming liner to the gap in right-center.
Rimer followed Hayes’ triple with a double to deep center field and after Drew Davis walked again — and took second on the ball four wild pitch when no one covered the bag — Jimbo Davis’ sacrifice fly made it 8-5.
“Most of the season we’ve been good at taking advantage of the other guys’ mistakes,”Gantt said. “Our aggressive base running causes a lot of it.”
Two Statesville errors in the top of the ninth led to total disaster for the home team. Against reliever Tim Johnson, JimboDavis stroked a two-run single through the left side of the infield. Drew Davis scored on one wild pitch. Davis slid home on the next ball to the screen, and Hampton followed when the catcher’s throw to Johnson at the plate glanced off Jimbo’s foot and rolled away.
Hits from Trosper and Gegorek extended the lead to 16-5.
Including Rowan’s three free passes in the ninth, Statesville’s pitchers allowed 13 walks, five of which scored.
One walk was all Statesville’s offense managed over the final five innings. Steedley settled down and retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth innings before stranding Lewis at third in the sixth with a pair of strikeouts. He finished with 11 Ks, allowing two earned runs on five hits in his seven innings of work.
Phillip Goodman took over and pitched two perfect innings, striking out three.
“The pitching staff all year has been able to keep us in a ballgame until the offense can score,”Gantt said. “We don’t panic when things get tight. You’ve got to weather the storm.”
Rowan certainly managed that feat Sunday night.
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