By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
GRANITE QUARRY ó East Rowan’s baseball team has more trouble with North Davidson than anyone, and the Black Knights brought more misery to Staton Field on a damp, miserable afternoon.
Even Ernie Banks would have had zero interest in playing two Wednesday, but North Davidson played like it was walking on sunshine.
The Knights spanked East 9-2 in a non-conference matchup between elite programs that were heated competitors in the 4A Central Piedmont Conference two years ago. The Black Knights are 5-2 against East the last four seasons.
Plenty of good seats were available as fans must have assumed the game would be postponed. So did North Davidson coach Mike Meadows, but then he got a call from East coach Brian Hightower.
“Brian calls and tells me, ‘Hey, it really looks pretty good over here,’ ” Meadows said. “I told him it must be raining everywhere in America except Salisbury, N.C.”
The field was playable, but the Black Knights (4-3) did all the playing. The key was sophomore right-hander Jordan Ramsey. The young hurler blanked East for 41/3 innings. He fanned six.”The kid threw strikes, just threw fastballs by us,” Hightower said. “Even when he was behind in the count, he could throw fastballs by us.”
Ramsey figured during the school day that there was no chance of playing.
“Around third period, I heard the game was off,” Ramsey said. “We were talking about what we were going to do at practice when we heard the announcements at 3:05. One of ’em said the baseball bus was leaving at 3:10.
“I was thinking, ‘East beat us pretty bad in a scrimmage, so they’re inviting us over in the rain to beat us again.’ ”
East starting pitcher Alex Litaker might have gotten out of the first inning unscathed, but defensive breakdowns allowed the Black Knights to plate three runs. Kelly Secrest’s two-out, two-run single through the right side was the biggest hit in the game.
Then Ramsey took the hill and struck out the side, and the Black Knights were injected with a million dollars worth of confidence.
“We’re really young, three sophomores and a freshman out there,” Meadows said. “East had destroyed us in that scrimmage, and then we come to Granite Quarry and watch them take a round of infield that left my guys awestruck.
“But we got a couple of fortuitous runs early and our right-hander was doing a great job. Then we started executing (a hit-and-run, plus four excellent bunts) and got the confidence we could play them.”
East didn’t turn a potential double play in the second and the hole grew to 4-0. In the bottom of the inning, North Davidson right fielder Trevor Hinson made a running catch in foul territory as he sprinted fearlessly toward a fence and his team’s confidence grew a little more.
“Trevor gives us toughness and competitiveness,” Meadows said. “That’s what we needed to do today ó compete. We were in a hostile environment.”
In the third, the Black Knights knocked out Litaker, who was replaced by Thomas Allen, and pushed their lead to 7-0. Hinson and Zach Joyce had RBI doubles in the inning.
After Ramsey set East down 1-2-3 again in the third with the help of a diving catch by Joyce, the Appalachian State-bound center fielder, it was clear it was the Knights’ day.
“Those early runs they got were just huge,” Hightower said. “Young as they are, they got confidence and they played a great ballgame. You have to give Coach Meadows a ton of credit. That didn’t look anything like the team we scrimmaged not long ago.”
East didn’t have a baserunner until Zach Smith bounced a groundball up the middle in the fourth. Meadows lifted Ramsey when East had two on with one out in the fifth, and reliever Michael Pilcher got the Knights out of that jam.
North Davidson led 9-0 heading to the bottom of the sixth. East filled the bases with none out, but reliever Joe Tippett limited the damage to two runs on a wild pitch and a run-scoring groundout by Corbin Shive, and the Mustangs were done.
“We’re not going to face a better lineup than East’s or a better-coached team,” Meadows said. “We were fortunate they made mistakes today they’re not going to be making later in the season. I fully expect to see a (3A) banner hanging the next time I come down to Granite Quarry.”
Meadows pushed North Davidson close to a 4A banner the past two seasons, but he no longer has Levi Michael, who starts at North Carolina, Tyler Hanover, who starts at LSU, Zach White, who pitches for Wake Forest, or Clay Watson, who pitches at Catawba.
This time it was new faces such as Ramsey and shortstop Landon Lassiter who handed East its most lopsided loss since a 9-1 setback to Davie in 2006.
“The first five games of the season we played exactly the kind of ball I expected us to play this year,” Hightower said. “But this week, we’ve been just awful, and that’s not meant to take anything away from North Davidson. They were great today.”