With no outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the first inning, Rowan County appeared poised to blow open Monday night’s game practically before it started.

Exactly one triple play later, Statesville had escaped down just 2-0. The crowd at Newman Park went from excited to worried just like that, settling in for another tight ballgame.

But that was the only break Statesville got and the only mistake Rowan made in a 15-0 explosion in Game 3 of the best-of-7 playoff series. Rowan, the top team in the Area IIISouthern Division, can finish off the sweep of Statesville tonight on the road at 7:15.

Unlike the first two games of the series, Rowan didn’t let Statesville hang around. Jim Gantt’s team rocked five Statesville pitchers for 15 hits and four home runs. Rowan (23-2)batted around in both the third and fourth frames, scoring 12 of its 15 runs.

“We came out a little more prepared to play,”Gantt said. “Nothing was said, but I think the kids wanted to come out and prove how they could play, especially in front of the home crowd.”

The only questions Monday night were how many and how long. Rowan appeared able to score runs at will, but with rain showers coming and going, there was a sense of urgency to get to the fifth inning and make the blowout official.

“We were all worried about getting past the fifth,”said Cal Hayes Jr., who launched a two-run shot in the fourth. “We were joking around, telling people to get out.”

The way things were going for Statesville, intentional outs may have been appreciated. After getting three at once in the first inning, they were hard to come by.

Statesville starter Michael Gilbert got into trouble in the first when he walked Hayes and Aaron Rimer, gave up a two-run single to Drew Davis and watched Jimbo Davis smoke a double. Ben Hampton walked to load the bases, still with no outs.

Nick Lefko stood in with a chance to blow the game wide open. He sent a soft liner to short that fluttered through the air and handcuffed Steven Hancock. The Statesville shortstop dropped to one knee juggling the ball as the Rowan runners took off and suddenly the umpire signaled an out — that the ball had been caught on the fly.

Hancock, already prepared to throw to second to start a double play, tossed the ball to Josh Lewis, who stepped on the bag and threw to Adam Wilhelm at first. He tagged Hampton and the defense ran off the field as Newman Park erupted in a confused chatter.

Gantt argued that Hancock didn’t catch the ball in the air, but the call stood.

“The triple play in the first — I don’t know how much we could’ve scored if that hadn’t happened,”said Gantt, who added that Hancock admitted to him later that he actually didn’t catch the ball.

“We just sat back and swung at good pitches.”

After scoring two runs in the second inning, the offense exploded and made up for what it didn’t tally in the first.

Drew Davis got hit by a pitch from Charles Taylor and Jimbo Davis followed with a line drive laser that skimmed the top of the fence in left field for a 5-0 lead.

Ben Hampton followed, and on an 0-2 count stroked a high fastball the opposite way. His line drive screamed just over the 345-foot sign in left-center.

Bobby Parnell’s double chased Taylor, but Justin Wolfe didn’t fare any better. Shawn Trosper ripped a double just fair past third base, Hayes bounced a run-scoring single over third and Drew Davis doubled home the seventh run of the inning in his second at-bat of the frame.

“It seemed like the hitting was contagious today,”Hayes said. “We came out and showed how we could play.”

Rowan showed even more in the fourth. Hampton tripled, Lefko walked and Parnell launched a shot to left that soared over the fence for a three-run blast.

He missed his first Legion homer, though — he was running so hard, head down, getting ready to round first for extra bases, that he wasn’t watching where the ball landed at all.

“I don’t know where that came from,”Parnell said. “It must’ve rubbed off on me.”

Hayes’ shot to left-center made it 15-0, bringing more cheers from the crowd huddled under the grandstand. A steady drizzle, which had started falling in the second inning, continued into the fourth but finally eased in the fifth, ensuring a Rowan win.

“A lot of times when it’s real humid and damp, the ball doesn’t carry all that well,”Gantt said. “We hit home runs the way we need to — line drive shots. We need to hit doubles and run the bases.”

Almost lost in the offensive exploits was starter JulianSides’ outing. The left-hander, recovering from a hip flexor, faced the minimum through five innings. He allowed two singles, but picked off one base-runner and had another thrown out stealing.

When reliever Tyler Morgan enticed the final out in the top of the seventh, everyone headed home knowing that, at last, the first-place Rowan team had shown Statesville how this series should’ve gone from Game 1.

“We wanted to play today,”Parnell said. “It was like normal. We were doing what we were supposed to be doing.”

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NOTES:Sides, who struck out five, retired 11 straight at one point. … Morgan struck out three without allowing a hit in the final two innings. … Phillip Goodman should get the start tonight at Statesville. … Parnell rocked another liner in the fifth inning that clanked off the wall in left, just missing his second homer.

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Contact Steve Hanf at 704-797-4287 or shanf@salisburypost.com .