KANNAPOLIS — South Rowan baseball coach Linn Williams was hoping for a line drive from leadoff man Ronnie Shore.
He got much, much more.
Shore’s two-out, three-run homer in the second inning carried better than 360 feet and swiveled a day that had started miserably for the Raiders 360 degrees.
“That was what we needed,” said Shore. “It turned momentum our way.”
South finished a frigid Tuesday afternoon at Veterans Field with a satisfying 12-7 win over neighbor A.L. Brown. Both teams are 1-1.
It’s hard to imagine anyone’s season getting off on a worse foot than South’s. Leading 9-2 on opening day at Northwest Cabarrus, South surrendered eight runs before it could get a single out in the seventh and lost.
Yesterday continued that scary trend. South went down 1-2-3 like bowling pins in the top of the first to hard-throwing Andrew Petty. Then, after the first three Wonder batters — two walks and a bomb to center by Petty off Raider starter Jared Wingler — South stared at a 3-0 hole.
“At that point, you’re really worried if your guys can bounce back mentally,” said South coach Linn Williams. “That made 11 runs we’d given up since we’d gotten anyone out.
“But then Ronnie gave us a spark, Wingler settled in and our kids battled back.”
If the Wonders had made the plays, Shore would never have grabbed a bat in the second. But a runner reached first on a strikeout, a pickoff play was botched and Matt Ward’s blooper fell in right to make it 3-2.
Then Shore, who had batted lefty and whiffed against Petty his first time up, took a sweet right-handed swing and unloaded for a 5-3 Raider lead as sudden as a thunderclap.
“(Pitcher) Mike Davis told me to go right-handed,” said Shore. “Petty left it up and I connected.”
Shore’s homer proved a fuel injection for Wingler.
“I was determined to fight,” said Wingler. “My attitude was they weren’t going to beat me. We know we have a better team than most people.”
“We chased every bad pitch Wingler threw up there,” sighed Wonder coach Empsy Thompson, whose team beat North Rowan 3-2 on Friday. “Give Wingler credit. He recognized that and fanned a lot of people.”
Petty, who’d looked like Nolan Ryan in the first, moved to short after three innings. Then South cranked out seven runs in the fourth and fifth off reliever Drew Maher for a 12-3 lead.
Thompson intentionally walked Shore in the fifth to load the bases, but Keith Clark’s grounder went through third baseman Chase Lowder for two key runs.
“Shore’s killing us, so we walk him and get the groundball we need,” said Thompson. “Unfortunately, it gets through.”
South’s William Van Wieren delivered two big blows. He banged a three-run double off buddy and fellow football star Maher in the fourth and chased Maher with a run-scoring single in the fifth.
“Drew and I played ball on the same teams for about five years,” grinned Van Wieren, who owns uniform-stretching muscles. “I kept a short swing and was able to get hold of a couple. Then I talked a little trash to Drew.”
On the verge of being 10-run rule victims, the Wonders clawed out two runs in the fifth off a tiring Wingler and two more in the sixth to close within 12-7.
The Wonders had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth when South’s third pitcher Andrew Morgan finally settled matters by striking out sluggers John Graham and Tyson Fink. Morgan went to a full count on Graham and fell behind Fink 2-0 but rallied to get both.
“No one’s expecting a 3-2 curveball, so we surprised Graham with one,” said Morgan. “That was the big pitch. I got away with a 2-1 fastball to Fink that was right down the middle, but he took it. Then I got him with a curve.”
As Morgan worked to Graham and Fink, with a frozen crowd stirring to life and runners jockeying off the bases, Shore, bad memories floating through his blonde head, was afraid to look.
“I’m out there praying it’s not happening to us all over again,” he said.
Not to worry. Morgan made sure South finished this one.
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NOTES:Thompson was stunned his team struggled after its great start. “I’m speechless,” he said. “I’m disappointed and I hope our kids are. We’ve got great potential, but we have to make the plays.” ... South’s Justin Pinyan joined Ward, Van Wieren and Shore with two hits each. Daniel Smith, Ryan Query and Brett Bartles had two each for the Wonders. ... Lowder committed a big error, but also made a diving play to rob Derrick Morrison. ... South hosts West Rowan (2-0) today.
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Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com
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