UNIONVILLE — West Rowan’s baseball team spent Wednesday afternoon hitting bullets at East Rowan defenders in an 8-2 South Piedmont Conference Tournament semifinal loss.
Then the Falcons (15-10) spent a few hours sweating bullets as they waited for word on the outcome of the other semifinal — Central Cabarrus vs. Piedmont. In the end, the Falcons dodged one last bullet. Top-seeded Central ignored Piedmont’s homefield advantage and humbled the Panthers 9-2. The Vikings’ victory puts them in tonight’s 7 p.m. championship game opposite second-seeded East. It also pushes third-seeded West, the “bump team” for this tournament into the 3A state playoffs.
“Bump teams” have precious little peace of mind until all precincts have reported in. You could ask the North Rowan Cavaliers, 17-7 but staying home next week, about that. “I feel a whole lot better right now,” said ecstatic West coach Chris Cauble, after Central coach Bryan Tyson cell-phoned in with the happy news.
Meanwhile, East coach Jeff Safrit is pretty bubbly these days, too. His white-hot club made it 15 out of 17 by whipping West for the third time in four meetings and for the second time at a neutral site.
The Mustangs (17-7) can’t improve their playoff seeding tonight, but may well add one more tournament title to an already overflowing trophy case. Central (21-3) is terrific, but East, which has Jeremy Teague (5-3) and Jason Cauble (4-0) available has a huge advantage in the arms race over a Viking team that will have to — as Tyson says — “staff it up.” Tyson’s already played his two aces.
“Central’s beat us 2-1 and 2-1,” said East shortstop Cal Hayes Jr. “We’re excited about getting to chance to play them again.”
East can’t play much better than it did yesterday. It turned three double plays (nearly four, but Hayes couldn’t get one ball out of his glove) and scored six runs after it had two outs. West kicked it around a little (six errors) and every time it fouled up, the Mustangs pounced.
“We hit the ball well, but East made all the plays,” said Cauble. “Then when East hit the ball, we didn’t help our pitchers out.”
Shawn Trosper had three of the Falcons’ eight hits.
Hayes, who spent Tuesday night at the batting cages trying to shake off a 2-for-15 skid, looked like his old self with a 3-for-4 outing with three RBIs. “I got my swing back,” he said.
East sophomore Spencer Steedley sent a rocket out of the yard in the fourth for his first high school homer and No. 9 hitter Chad Sansbury helped out with two hits and two runs.
“I was happy for Sansbury,” said Safrit. “He’s struggled with the bat, but he’s kept a good attitude and is always ready when called upon.”
East lefty Julian Sides (5-3), who has pitched all four West games, didn’t exactly blow away the Falcons, but was smart and tenacious and let his defense help him out.
“This game was a tribute to Julian and (catcher) Drew Davis’ pitch-calling,” said Safrit. “When you face somebody for the fourth time, they have to know everything you’ve got. But he still kept them off balance. He beat ’em three times.”
Two plays told the story.
East led 1-0 and had runners at second and third with two outs in the last of the second. Hayes chopped a ball to the left side. He beat an off-balance throw across the diamond easily, scoring not only Adam Cornelius from third, but Sansbury, running as frantically as fugitive Richard Kimball, from second.
“Sansbury did that on his own,” said Safrit. “He was heads up and he’s an aggressive baserunner. All I did was not stop him. When he was three-quarters of the way home, I shouted, ‘Go, go, go.’ ”
“I was just thinking when I was at second that if someone hit a ground ball I might try it,” said Sansbury, who transferred to East from Georgia last year. “I was feeling pretty comfortable on the bases, because today I put myself out there, instead of just running for someone.”
The other key play was Nick Lefko’s daily defensive dandy in right.
Sides had sailed along through the first five innings — throwing a mere 56 pitches — and was cruising with a 7-0 lead. But trouble came in the sixth. Two walks and singles by Trosper and Cory Ruff gave the Falcons’ their first run and loaded the bases with no outs.
The next batter, Ryan Schenk, hit a line single to right. Wait — make that an apparent line single to right. Lefko raced in, took the ball on the first hop, and gunned a throw to Hayes in time to force pinch-runner Ronnie Hugel at second base. A run scored, but East had a huge first out.
“I thought (second baseman) Justin (Miller) might catch that ball,” said Lefko, “and I’m sure the baserunner thought that. I’m always looking for chances to make a play and I got one. Then Ithrew a good shot to Cal at second and got the out. Julian needed it.”
“Ronnie froze on the line drive which is exactly what he’s supposed to do,” said Cauble, who playfully tried to rip Lefko’s arm out of the socket during his postgame interview. “That’s just a great play by Nick.”
Buoyed by Lefko’s laser, Sides retired Clay Everson and BrandonHiatt, snuffing out West’s comeback bid.
The final play of the game summed things up. West’s Jared Barnette hit a two-on, one-hop smash to third baseman Bobby Parnell, who was standing a half-step from the bag. He then pegged the ball to first for East’s third twin killing.
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NOTES:West had two double plays of its own, one on a vicious liner to first baseman Trosper... Miller was the middleman for East on double plays in the second and fourth. ... Everson’s double was West’s only extra-base hit. ... John Brooks (4-3) was the starter and loser for West. Paul Link, up from West’s unbeaten jayvees, made his varsity debut and yielded Steedley’s homer. ... Brooks stabbed a shot back to the box by Steedley in self defense.
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