After his first two outings this American Legion season, Rowan County pitcher Brian Hatley had a rather unsightly ERA of 18.00.
In his first four Legion innings, he was roughed up for 12 hits and 10 runs – eight of them earned.
But these days, Hatley can peruse the stats in the newspaper and smile. After shutting out Lexington 6-0 on Monday night at Newman Park in a second-round playoff game in Area III Southern Division, his ERA has plummeted to a highly-respectable 3.38.
His won-lost record is a very sweet 5-1, and here’s the really telling stat on Mr. Hatley: after striking out six and walking one last night, he has 53 Ks and just 12 walks on the season. A 2-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio is considered excellent. Hatley’s is now more than twice that nice at 4.4-to-1.
‘‘And that,’’ says Rowan coach Jim DeHart, ‘‘is Brian’s secret to success. He throws strikes.’’
Hatley knows exactly what happens when you don’t throw strikes.
‘‘Seems like every walk scores,’’ said Hatley. ‘‘Hey, I walked tonight and I scored.’’
Hatley had a point. Lexington starter Brandon Russell struck out 10 and was very tough, but he gave up four bases on balls. They were as deadly as strychnine. All four Rowan batters he walked, came all the way around.
Hatley walked and scored Rowan’s first run in the fourth on Chad Walker’s triple.
In the fifth, Jimmy Haynes walked and scored on Cal Hayes Jr.’s single.
And in the sixth, walks to Walker and Brett Peiffer preceded Brad Canipe’s game-breaking, two-run triple.
There was plenty of pressure on Hatley to pitch a strong game. Russell is Lexington’s ace, and this was the game Lexington coach Tom McCarthy had circled. This was the game Lexington (14-15) had to win if it was going to make any waves in this series.
But Hatley met the challenge. Now Rowan (22-7), which has won 13 straight and leads the series 3-0, can sweep tonight in Lexington.
‘‘Brian was so sharp,’’ said batterymate Canipe. ‘‘He had good location on all of his pitches.’’
Hatley got in trouble only once.
That was in the top of the sixth inning when Rowan was still nursing a 3-0 lead.
With one out, Lexington got back-to-back choppers for base hits by Andrew Harrison and Scott Wilson.
That brought the dangerous Jason Phillips to the plate. Phillips had given Hatley as much trouble as anyone. He had singled his first time up, and in his second time at bat, he had sent Rowan center fielder Paul Black crashing into the fence to haul in his long blast.
‘‘I was afraid to even look up on that one,’’ said Hatley. ‘‘When he hit it, I just knew it was gone.’’
And now Phillips was digging in at the dish again. And this time, he had two teammates on.
Working carefully, Hatley fell behind Phillips 3-and-1. But his next pitch was a beauty.
‘‘Location is what I live and die by and I threw that next pitch to a perfect location,’’ said Hatley. ‘‘Low and away. He hit a weak ground ball to first base for the second out.’’
The next batter, Gary Tilley, rapped a grounder to Haynes, who fills in at third base when Hatley pitches. Haynes made the play – he made them all night – and the inning was over.
Lexington never got another chance to get back in the game, because Canipe took matters into his own hands – and feet – in the bottom of the sixth.
That was the inning Russell walked Walker and Peiffer back-to-back.
But when he got ahead 0-2 on the next hitter, Canipe, everyone in Newman Park figured the Rowan catcher was doomed to wave weakly at a nasty curve.
But Canipe had other ideas. Russell got his 0-2 pitch up, and Canipe ripped it on a high arc toward the right-field corner.
It was quickly apparent that both Walker and Peiffer were going to score. What wasn’t immediately obvious was that Canipe, who is playing with a painful stress fracture in his foot, had no intentions of settling for a double.
He put his head down and headed for third, and then when Lexington mishandled the relay, he shrugged off the pain and chugged all the way around to score – handing Hatley a 6-0 cushion.
‘‘I was just trying to put the ball out there somewhere,’’ said Canipe.
Instead, he created one of the more memorable moments of the Legion season. Watching him tear around the bases on one wheel had to be inspirational for his teammates.
‘‘The thing about that play was that Brad had messed up a bunt on the pitch before,’’ laughed DeHart. ‘‘Then he gives us three runs on one swing.’’
But then DeHart got serious, praising Canipe as one of the key elements in Rowan’s dramatic turnaround this summer.
‘‘Brad’s been tremendous for us as far as his catching and his leadership,’’ he said. ‘‘When he came back after being hurt, that’s when this whole team settled down.’’
‘‘All I know is that once Brad made it 6-0 instead of 3-0, it was easy,’’ said Hatley. ‘‘Then I could mess up a little, and still be OK.’’
But Hatley didn’t mess up at all, finishing off his second shutout of the season on 121 pitches.
This shutout, however, was more impressive than the one he logged against last-place Statesville. This one came against a pretty good-hitting ballclub, it came in the playoffs, and it came in front of a huge crowd.
‘‘Brian’s pitched great since that one early game,’’ said DeHart. ‘‘He’s helped this staff get back where it needs to be. Tonight, he was in complete control.’’
NOTES:
Walker scored Rowan’s second run on a passed ball. ... Jesse Boger is expected to pitch for Rowan tonight. ... Canipe left the game shortly after his dash around the bases. ‘‘When I run on it hard, the foot gets sore,’’ he said. Jeremy Alderman replaced him.
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