Prep Baseball: East's Allen signs with UNC Pembroke

East Rowan's pitcher Thomas Allen (20) in game with North Iredell. photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

East Rowan's pitcher Thomas Allen (20) in game with North Iredell. photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

By Mike London

mlondon@salisburypost.com

GRANITE QUARRY — East Rowan's baseball season began in Covington, Ga., the first week of March.

East prevailed 3-0 against the Alcovy High Tigers, a strong team that already had three wins under its belt.

Alcovy scored 14 runs the game before East arrived and put up 32 more in the two right after East left.

If you're thinking East's pitcher must have been decent, you're on the right track. His name is Thomas Allen, and he's been the surprise of this prep season.

"We went into the season thinking Thomas could be our go-to guy, and he's lived up to that," East pitching coach Brian Hatley said. "We expect our seniors to be seniors. He's not disappointed anyone."

The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Allen signed with UNC Pembroke last week, so his success story is only beginning. He does plan to play for the Rowan County Legion team this summer. He'll probably write a few more chapters at Newman Park.

Allen's line against Alcovy — six innings, no runs, two hits, one walk, seven Ks — has basically been his line all spring. He's 7-0 with a 1.26 ERA. He has 51 strikeouts and 10 walks in 39 innings.

It's next to impossible for a guy who plays once a week to win the Mark Norris Memorial Award that goes to the county's best player, but if a Rowan Cy Young Award existed, Allen could start working on his acceptance speech today.

If you never heard of Allen until he threw a no-hitter against Carson last week, don't feel left out. Only diehard East fans had any clue who Allen was before he made his first varsity start. But he stepped off the bus in Georgia after an eight-hour ride and started locating fastballs and snapping off curves.

It wasn't like Allen was bad as a junior, but he was nearly invisible. Head coach Brian Hightower sent six different starters to the bump in 2009 — Kent Basinger, Cody Laws, Alex Litaker, Preston Troutman, Parker Gobbel and Corbin Shive — but never Allen.

Allen pitched 122/3 innings to rank seventh on the staff. He was 1-0 with a 2.21 ERA.

"Two years on the jayvees, then last year in relief," Allen said. "I accepted my role on the team."

It's not like Hightower and Hatley didn't see potential. But Allen was heavy (about 275) and there was no time for experiments. The NPC had 10 teams and that meant 18 dog-eat-dog league games if East was going to keep up with eventual 3A champ Lake Norman.

"When Thomas came to East as a freshman he had a good arm," Hatley said. "But he needed to get his weight down to get his mechanics right. He was kinda that odd man out when every game was a conference game."

Basinger, Laws, Litaker, and Shive graduated after a 23-5 season. Also exiting were starters Ben DeCelle, Zach Smith, David Ijames, Casey Little, Ethan Fisher and Austin Shull.

East returned just two regulars — Noah Holmes and Troutman.

Hightower understood his rebuilding project had to start with a leaner, meaner Allen on the mound, and he didn't keep that thought buried. He let Allen know exactly what the score was.

"Coach told me how much he was counting on me and how important I could be to the team my senior year," Allen said.

Allen bought in.

He was at the East Y running shortly after the 2009 season ended with a painful playoff loss against Lake Norman. As 60 pounds melted away, his mechanics got sharper, his fastball got swifter (87 mph), and his curve and slider got tighter.

UNC Pembroke noticed the new Allen for the first time at a January showcase in Winston-Salem and expressed interest in his future plans. Guilford and Lenoir-Rhyne made calls.

When Allen shut out West Rowan for six innings on March 23, a UNC Pembroke coach was in attendance at Staton Field. Allen had nothing working but his fastball, but he was overpowering.

"Up until the West game, I'd just had a few normal recruiting phone calls," Allen said. "But that night, I think Pembroke got a little more excited."

UNC Pembroke was able to hold off a late push by Catawba and landed Allen.

Allen was impressed by the Braves' facilities when he visited and impressed by a team that's ranked nationally in Division II. The school also was recommended by DeCelle, now a football receiver at UNCP.

"Ben loves it down there, and Pembroke reminded me of East in a lot of ways," Allen said. "Just a real good program. They play the game the right way."

In Allen's second start this season, he outdueled West Iredell ace Sam Laws in a 2-1 struggle. He fanned seven and didn't allow an earned run.

Allen pitched a one-hitter against South Rowan — a Maverick Miles triple.

Then Allen logged his six-inning no-hitter against Carson, not a team that would ever be voted most likely to go hitless. Carson has numerous players with college potential and is 16-4.

Hatley candidly says Carson is the best team East (17-1) has seen all season.

"They can drain a pitcher because 1 through 9 they can all hit," Hatley explained. "You can't take a batter off."

Allen got the Cougars out mostly with sliders and curves, and he was able to keep his fastball on or just off the outside corner.

"Carson can really hit the fastball," Allen said. "I guess I was concerned the most with (lefty-hitting catcher) Tyler Freeze. I saw the Easter championship game, and Davie came in on him and Tyler hit one 380. I kept the ball away from him."

Hightower was impressed. He's not easily impressed.

"Some games Thomas just has to throw," he said. "Against Carson, he had to pitch, and he pitched a really strong ballgame."

Hightower and Hatley are proud of Allen's rapid rise, but they claim no credit.

"It's not anything we did — it's what Thomas decided to do for himself," Hatley said. "He's got a passion for baseball and he showed everyone what kind of work ethic he has."

Hightower echoed those thoughts.

"There's just one person Thomas has to thank for his college scholarship and that person is Thomas Allen," he said. "He's the one that put in all the work."