By David Shaw
dshaw@salisburypost.com
ALBEMARLE ó There was nothing wrong with Rowan County pitching that back-to-back, seven-inning shutouts couldn’t fix.
One night after Matt Hall struck out 11 batters and tamed Wilkes County, Rowan received a magnificent complete-game shutout from Tanner Brown in an 11-0 win at Stanly County.
“I don’t know if you can pitch any better than that,” coach Jim Gantt said after third-place Rowan (15-4, 7-4 Southern Division) gained its sixth consecutive win and 12th in the past 13 games. “It was fun to watch.”
Especially Brown, the architect of a well-crafted four-hitter. Relying on a sneaky-quick fastball that lived on the corner of Low & Away, he needed only 83 pitches to silence Post 76 (5-8, 5-7). The right-hander out of Wilkes Community College faced only 23 batters ó two more than the minimum ó fanned eight and walked none.
“Just one of those nights when everything was working,” Brown said after avenging his only loss of the season. “I was hitting my spots, the defense was working and we hit the ball great tonight.”
Rowan turned double plays in the fourth and fifth innings and collected 10 hits on a cool, breezy evening. It secured the victory with a four-run seventh against Stanly reliever Corey Hartis.
“It’s taken us a while, but we’re getting on a roll,” infielder Philip Miclat said. “Now that everyone’s here, we’re kind of jelling and getting into the swing of it.”
Miclat had a pretty good night swinging it. He went 3-for-5 with a bunt single in the first inning, a two-run double in the fourth and a lazy, two-run single to right-center that closed the scoring. He also stole a base ó Rowan’s eighth in three games ó and boosted his average to a robust .347.
“They’re a pretty good team right now,” Stanly coach Marko Little said. “Maybe one of the best in the state. For us it wasn’t a total team effort. This is what happens when we play like we did.”
Rowan catcher Austin Shull contributed a pair of singles, a bases-loaded walk and scored three runs. He was pleased with his offensive mechanics, but was more impressed with Brown’s ability to get ahead and stay ahead of Stanly hitters.
“The first pitch is always crucial,” he said. “When you fall behind, it makes it that much harder. But Tanner didn’t leave anything up and stayed in a zone. Everything he threw was good.”
Brown was indeed a strike-one pitcher, throwing 16 first-pitch strikes.
“That’s the story right there,” said Gantt. “You don’t always have to throw a strike on the first pitch, but you want one of the first two. He was throwing them right away all night ó and that was a key. That set up everything else.”
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NOTES: Miclat’s four RBIs give him 17, good for second-best on the team behind Trey Holmes (18). … Rowan plays its fifth consecutive road game tonight at league-leading Mooresville. Gantt said right-hander Billy Veal (2-1, 5.28) will start.