LANDIS — When South Rowan’s involved in an American Legion playoff series, baseball fans are usually thinking sweep.
They are again. This time, though, the broom may be in the other closet.
Don’t look now, but South’s in command of a series for the first time in its six-year history. It leads Mooresville two games to none after romping 13-0 in seven innings on Sunday night.
Seventh-seeded South has scored 19 unanswered runs in this first-round, best-of-seven series and things are snowballing against the reeling, second-seeded Moors (15-11). Play moves to Mooresville tonight, where veteran coach Whitey Meadows will attempt to rally the troops.
“Things are real tough for us,” admitted Meadows. “Our boys have played good ball all year, but now that crunch-time’s here, they’re just not doing it. Some of ’em aren’t playing to their potential.”
Of course, one of them isn’t playing at all. No question, the unfortunate head injury to hard-hitting Michael McClain leaves a Grand Canyon-sized crater in the middle of the Moors’ offense. Making matters worse, Meadows’ second-best stick, centerfielder Michael Sandlin, has a badly sprained hand.
Still, Meadows isn’t ready to run up a white flag.
“South’s got momentum and they deserved to win these two games,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we can’t get back in it.”
South coach Allen Wilson sports a wide smile these days, but isn’t ready to break out the champagne.
“We’ve made some steps,” said the second-year coach. “But it’s still a long series and Mooresville’s a good team. We’re going up there Monday with the goal of playing even better than we did tonight.”
Right-hander Mike Davis (1-4) takes the hill for South (10-14) in Game 3 as it tries to equal the program record for wins in a season. Meadows counters with Seth Graham (4-1), last night’s starting catcher.
Sunday’s game swung early on a contested swing. South’s second batter in the first inning,Matt Morgan, was awarded first base when he checked his swing and was then struck by a pitch. Meadows argued heatedly — but to no avail — that the ball had glanced off Morgan’s bat prior to hitting him. That ruling gave South two on with no outs, setting up Greg Deal’s sacrifice and an intentional walk to Mooresville killer Aaron Safrit to load the bases.
Mooresville soft-throwing lefty, Brent Frye, who had baffled South twice this year, struck out Justin Pinyan for the second out. But Adam Cornelius then delivered the game’s biggest blow — a first-pitch single up the middle to give South a 2-0 lead. Jeremy Alderman followed with a half-swing flare to right to plate a third run.
“Those first-inning runs took the pressure off me,” said South southpaw Nick Mayle. “After we had a lead, pitching was all downhill.”
Mayle was terrific and is looking more and more like the kid who won All-State honors at Princeton High. He fanned nine, walked just one, scattered five hits and picked up the first shutout by a South hurler since Drew Callicutt blanked Mocksville early in 2000. South’s shutout drought lasted 40 games.
Wilson said the key was a change in Mayle’s mindset. Wilson noticed Mayle threw harder than usual in a recent two-inning relief stint at Kannapolis. Wilson wanted to know what was going on. Mayle explained that as a reliever he could just fire away without worrying about pacing himself.
“Throw it like that when you start,” Wilson demanded.
“What if I can only go four innings?” asked Mayle.
“Then go four and we’ll put someone else in,” said Wilson. “Let it all hang out.”
So Mayle let it rip. He had noticeably more pop on his fastball and kept getting it in on the hands of the surprised Moors.
“This was the Mayle we’ve been waiting on,” beamed Wilson.
“I’m on a high and this team’s on a high,” said Mayle.
South was on a hitting high, too, scoring its first 10 runs with two outs. Alderman and Morgan had three hits each to pace a 14-hit attack.
It was no surprise when South went up 5-0 on Aaron Safrit’s two-run homer to left-center in the second. Safrit’s onslaught against Mooresville pitching has been nothing short of supernatural. He’s tagged three of his four homers against the Moors and they’ve been the victim of nine of his 14 RBIs.
“We bring out the best in Safrit,” groaned Meadows.
“It’s not that I don’t like Mooresville,” said Safrit. “It’s more like they don’t like me. They’ve hit me with pitches four times.”
This one was history after Morgan lifted a drive to center with the bases loaded in the third. Sandlin kept back-pedaling until he finally tripped on one of those funky outfield bumps and landed flat on his back. Three runs crossed and it was 8-0.
“Homefield advantage,” deadpanned South assistant Ernie Faw.
The only other excitement came when a power outage foiled a potential Mooresville double play in the sixth. After lights were restored, Mayle put the wraps on his electrifying shutout.
“Mayle was on and we got him some runs,” said Safrit. “We’re playing with confidence — playing ball the way we can.”
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NOTES:Players and umpires wore red armbands for McClain. ... Wilson gave credit for South’s finally hitting Frye to assistant coach Alan Ritchie who fed South hitters curves in batting practice ... Mayle tied Daniel Overby’s South record for wins in a season (3). ... South’s beaten Mooresville four times in six tries. ... Safrit unloaded a ground-rule double to dead center that outdistanced his homer. ... Once 3-11, South’s won seven of its last 10.
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Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com
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