By Mike London
Salisbury Post
LANDIS ó South Rowan made every imaginable defensive play against Northwest Cabarrus.
The Raiders made leaping catches, diving catches and running catches, but itís still not legal to station a fielder in the school parking lot.
Northwestís Justin Seager and Grayson Thompson banged solo homers over the left-field fence, and Steven Linker blasted a 400-foot RBI triple to center as the Trojans beat South 3-2 in a struggle between top-tier NPC teams on Tuesday.
Neither the Trojans nor the Raiders (11-4, 5-4) have a realistic chance of chasing down East Rowan, which is still unbeaten in the NPC, but yesterdayís game will impact the struggle for second, third and fourth. Northwest; (10-4, 6-3) gained a season split and avenged a 12-1 pounding it took from the Raiders in late February.
Northwest right-hander Ryan Overcash, who committed to Davidson on Monday, gave up nine runs in the first meeting. In yesterdayís rematch, he struck out 13 ó but thatís baseball.
iWell-pitched game, very well-played game,î South coach Linn Williams said. iIt came down to them getting one more ball to fall in than we did.î
South got two quick runs when Matt Ingold was hit by a pitch, pitcher Ryan Bostian drilled a long triple, and Maverick Miles singled.
iOvercash was throwing hard, but his fastball was straight and flat,î Bostian said. iI hit one that was a little outside for the triple.î
But Overcash held South scoreless the rest of the way.
Justin Seager, the sophomore brother of UNC second baseman Kyle Seager, hit his first varsity homer to put the Trojans on the board in the third. Bostian hung a curve over the plate, and Seager didnít miss it.
Bostian (3-2) had allowed only one earned run all season ó an opposite-field homer by Eastís Corbin Shive ó prior to Seagerís homer.
Bostian struck out the first two batters he faced in the fourth, but Thompson clubbed one out of the park to tie it. After Matt Mariano singled, Linker chased his burly teammate home with a booming triple, and Northwest led 3-2.
iThompson hit a good pitch, just put a real good swing on it,î Bostian said.
South was outslugged, but it still had a chance to win because of defense. Left fielder J.D. Bare made an airborne catch in the second to rob Thompson. Right fielder Michael Morgan and center fielder Blake Houston ran long drives down, and shortstop Matt Ingold made a soaring catch to get Bostian out of a jam in the seventh when the Trojans had two men on.
iWe actually hit it about as well as we have all season,î Northwest coach Joe Hubbard said. iSome were right at íem, and on some others they just made great plays.î
South left a runner at third base in the fourth and fifth, but the pivotal moments were in the home sixth when South had the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second with no outs after Miles and Caleb Shore opened the inning with solid singles.
iIt was like I got a little second wind there then,î Overcash said. iSouth swings the bats well, but I was thinking of getting ahead of each hitter and just challenging them with fastballs.î
Morgan went down swinging for the first out. Jordan Lowder went down swinging for the second. Pinch-hitter Jordan Corriher went down swinging to end the inning, with Miles still standing 90 feet away from the plate.
iSometimes you might think about trying to squeeze a run in there,î Williams said. iBut the Overcash kid is throwing a lot of high fastballs, and you can run yourself out of the inning if you pop one up. We took our chances that we could put one in play. It didnít work out, and it was disappointing we didnít get the job done, but Lord knows we had plenty of other opportunities.î
Overcash was nearing 100 pitches heading to the seventh. That left Hubbard with a decision, but he stuck with his ace.
iThis one was Ryanís to win or lose,î he said.
Overcash won it, with some help from shortstop Ryan Lazenby, who got the first two outs with a sliding catch and by gobbling up a tricky groundball.
Overcash walked Ingold with two outs, but he struck out Bostian on a pitch in the dirt. Thompson, the catcher, had to throw to first baseman Daniel Welch to record the putout, and Bostian was called out on very close play to end it.
iIt was kind of heartbreaking to let this one get away,î Bostian said. iWe got off to such a great start, but then our hitting went way down.î
Overcash had a lot to do with that.
NOTES: Northwest center fielder Jordan Phillips snagged a liner by Bostian to strand a runner at third in the fifth. … Northwest plays a makeup game at Lake Norman today, while South takes on North Iredell.
Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com.