Baseball: East Rowan 2, West Iredell 1

By Bret Strelow

bstrelow@salisburypost.com

GRANITE QUARRY — West Iredell third baseman Justin Hoppes showed off his hops with a leaping attempt to snag a curling line drive, but he fell to the dirt after coming up empty.

East Rowan baserunner Preston Troutman went airborne moments later. He hurdled Hoppes, touched third and raced home with the winning run.

An RBI single from catcher Luke Thomas with two away in the bottom of the seventh inning lifted East to a 2-1 victory against the Warriors in an NPC opener Tuesday at Staton Field.

Thomas Allen went the distance and allowed an unearned run for the Mustangs, who trailed 1-0 after five innings against 6-foot-4 junior Sam Laws.

"Laws was dealing," East coach Brian Hightower said. "I've seen him pitch, and he was on tonight. He's by far the best we've seen, and scouts ought to be looking at him.

"He's good; he's legit. I'm glad we scored two runs, to be honest, as well as he was pitching."

East (4-0, 1-0 NPC) tied the score on Nathan Fulbright's two-out single in the sixth, and Troutman singled off Laws' glove with one out in the seventh. He stole second before Laws recorded his 11th strikeout, and the Warriors (2-1, 0-1) intentionally walked Noah Holmes.

That set the stage for Thomas, who was 0-for-3 with two Ks at that point.

"I was just thinking going up there that I needed to put the ball in play after striking out (two) times against a really good pitcher," Thomas said.

Thomas fouled away a 1-2 offering, then took two close pitches that were called balls. With the runners moving, Thomas pulled a 3-2 fastball just out of Hoppes' reach.

East players rushed out of the dugout to congratulate Thomas, who chest-bumped Chris Jacobs.

"I just knew with a full count he wasn't going to want to walk the bases loaded," Thomas said. "I knew he was going to have to give me something to hit, so I was geared up to hit it.

"It just turned out good, and I was relieved. I hadn't done great the whole game. To come through like that in a big-time situation for the team felt great."

West Iredell posted its run in the third inning, which opened with a single by Jordan Gamble. He scored with two away when a slow roller toward second base trickled past Justin Morris into center field.

Ten of Laws' strikeouts came in the first five innings, and East finally broke through in the sixth. Holmes led off with a double and scored from second on Fulbright's single up the middle.

West Iredell had a runner on second with two away in the top of the seventh, and coach Randy Martin wisely held Gamble at third on a sharp single to center fielder Will Sapp. Allen, who allowed five hits and struck out seven batters, induced a groundout to escape the jam.

"He was awesome," Hightower said. "I thought he matched (Laws) pitch for pitch. He probably shouldn't have even given up the run. He worked ahead the whole night, and he's pitched well every game he's gone out."

West Iredell nearly added to its 1-0 lead in the fourth inning.

Matthew Johnson led off with a walk and advanced to second on a one-out single by Hoppes. They moved up on Brandon Whitener's sacrifice bunt, and Gamble walked to load the bases for Sam Marshall.

Holmes, East's third baseman, had noticed Johnson inching away from third during Gamble's at-bat. Holmes relayed that information to Allen, who called Thomas to the mound.

The first pitch to Marshall was an outside fastball meant to miss the strike zone. Thomas caught it and fired down the line to Holmes, who tagged a retreating Johnson for the third out.

"It just worked out perfectly," Thomas said.

That play helped the Mustangs, who went 3-0 on a trip to Georgia, remain within striking distance against Laws.

In the previous two seasons, East didn't trail the Warriors while outscoring them 37-1 in four victories.

"A lot of bad things happen and we could have lost it, but we stayed in it and pulled it out," Troutman said. "It was a tough one, though."

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NOTES: Sapp's center-field defense in the seventh inning was important. Gamble's one-out single into the gap had extra-base potential, and Sapp threw a perfect strike to the plate after Martin held Gamble at third. ... Troutman and Jamey Blalock had two hits apiece. ... Sapp and Andy Austin were the only Mustangs who didn't strike out against Laws. "I thought he was pretty dang good," Martin said. "We knew coming in he was going to be our horse, and we thought he mixed it up good and kept them off-balanced."