MOUNT ULLA — South Rowan’s mountainous William Van Wieren hit a respectable .339 in 2001 but was still the target of good-natured needles from coach Linn Williams.
“Coach kidded me all year about being his 250-pound singles hitter,” said Van Wieren. “That was all right, because I kept my average up there. But Coach said I could get a couple of jacks this year.”
Coach was right. The first jack of Van Wieren’s high school career arrived on Thursday afternoon, and it was a big one. Behind in the count in the fourth inning, Van Wieren crushed an off-speed pitch from West Rowan sophomore Patrick Adams for a grand slam that keyed South’s 9-3 road win over the Falcons.
“South came ready to play and we were not focused,” said West coach Chris Cauble. “Hopefully we learned we can’t just walk out on the field.”
The Raiders (4-2) have made it a habit of knocking off unbeaten teams. They handed East Rowan (4-1) its only loss last week and handled the fast-starting Falcons (5-1) yesterday.
“We have a chance to be a decent team,” said a cautious Williams. “We played good, not great. We can be better.”
But can Van Wieren get any better?
Better known for his devastating line play for the Raider football team, Van Wieren has already battered A.L. Brown, feasted on East and knocked in seven runs in two games with West. Van Wieren attributes his surge to manning first base this season instead of serving as designated hitter.
“Hitting when you’re playing in the field is a whole lot easier than going up to the plate cold,” he said.
One thing’s for sure. Van Wieren hasn’t been doing his damage against chopped liver.
“We’ve played a real good schedule,” agreed Williams, who takes his team to Staton Field for the rematch with East this afternoon. “We’ve played four contenders in the North Piedmont Conference and we’re 3-2 against them. I just hope we can do this when the Central Piedmont starts.”
West played beautiful ball in the first three innings, with Adams sailing through the Raider lineup.
The Falcons scored first, getting two runs in the third on two-out hits by Bryan Graham and Ben Hampton. Graham blistered a double on a waist-high fastball from South starter Andrew Morgan. Hampton looped an opposite-field single when he stayed back on a good curveball.
“The way the pitchers were going for three innings, I didn’t think we’d need lights today,” said Williams. “It looked like we’d be done by dark.”
But the top of the fourth got really dark for the Falcons. South plated eight — count ’em, eight — runs.
“Teams have put us in a situation to do something like that several times,” said Williams. “This was the first time we’ve taken advantage.”
A wide throw on a potential double play ball early in the inning hurt Adams (1-1), but what really did him in were four hit batsmen. Matt Biles, Patrick Atwell and Keith Clark had run-scoring singles and Ronnie Shore was hit by a pitch with the bases full for a run.
With South ahead 4-2, the bases packed and still only one out, Cauble showed faith in Adams. He wanted him to work through a tough jam the same way another youngster, Paul Link, had against Davie on Monday. But this time things didn’t work out. Adams made a mistake to the wrong guy — Van Wieren — and the muscleman made it 8-2 in a terrible hurry.
“If we make a few plays, South gets a run or two instead of eight,” said Cauble. “This was a lesson for our young guys and our old guys.”
After South took the lead, Morgan (2-0) held it. He kept the ball down and on the corners. The lefty spaced five hits over six innings in his third straight strong outing.
“It’s not like I was going to pitch a no-hitter, because West has a really good team,” said Morgan. “But pitching with a lead is easy. I wasn’t afraid to throw it in there.”
It’s a victory that left the Raiders feeling as calm and confident as they’ve been in years.
“West had beaten us the last three or four times (actually three) we’d played them,” said Morgan. “But today we scored nine runs off good pitchers and didn’t make an error. This is a big step for us.”
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NOTES: West’s last run came on a double steal in the seventh. ... South scored on a wild pitch in the fifth. ... Cauble said his team has a chance to redeem itself when it takes on North Rowan today. ... Williams, who sat out the last two games after an ejection, was glad to be back in the dugout. “Thad (Chrismon) did a great job, but it was tough pacing around the last two games,” he said. ... West beat South in Landis 11-7. ... The pain from South’s opening-day meltdown against Northwest Cabarrus is gone. “We showed today we can hold a 9-2 lead,” said a smiling Williams. ... West’s Brandon Hiatt and Stephen Ashby and South’s Allen Bryant got in some mound work.
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Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com
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