Area Sports Briefs: Baseball standouts commit
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, June 3, 2009
From staff reports
East Rowan center fielder Zach Smith will play at Pitt Community College in Greenville, N.C., next year.
Smith was one of the county’s top players as a senior. He tied for the county lead with eight homers and led Rowan with 33 RBIs, while batting .378.
In a three-year varsity career at East, Smith amassed 92 hits, including 22 doubles, seven triples and 12 homers. He stole 20 bases and batted .305 for his career.
Smith will join former Mustang Trey Holmes at Pitt.
* East Rowan right fielder David Ijames is headed to Stanly Community College.
Ijames led the county in doubles this season with 14 and led the Mustangs in batting with a .396 mark. He knocked in 31 runs.
Ijames played four varsity seasons, the first three at Salisbury. He batted .381 for his career with 133 hits, 78 runs and 90 RBIs.
His 38 doubles rank high on the all-time list. He also had eight triples, eight homers and 37 steals.
* Salisbury’s Forrest Buchanan, who pitched, played first base and the outfield is headed to Belmont Abbey.
Buchanan was 4-5 on the mound as a senior with an ERA of 3.32. He struck out 51 batters to rank second in the county.
Buchanan batted .397 as a senior, with nine doubles. He hit .306 his junior year.
There will be more on Smith, Ijames and Buchanan soon. All three are members of this season’s All-Rowan County team, which will be announced in the near future.
– Basketball commitments
Carson’s Josh Doby will play next season at Johnston Community College in Smithfield. The school is located 30 miles east of Raleigh
Doby, 6-foot-4, averaged 10.2 points a game as a senior and made the all-county team. He scored 599 points in his varsity career, with a career high of 22 against North Iredell as a junior. He also had 21-point outbursts against West Rowan as a junior and Northwest Cabarrus as a senior.
Doby said Wesley Honeycutt, a former South Rowan standout, also will be joining the JCC Jaguars.
Honeycutt played last season at Davidson Community College. He connected on 41 3-pointers and averaged 5.3 points a game.
Honeycutt averaged 15.1 points a game as a senior at South in 2007 and made the all-county team. The 6-2 guard scored 33 points that season against Salisbury, 32 against Mooresville and 30 against West Forsyth.
Doby and Honeycutt were teammates at South the first half of the 2006-07 season before Doby transferred to Carson.
– Intimidators win
The Kannapolis Intimidators beat Delmarva 9-6 Tuesday afternoon at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium.
Kannapolis (26-26) pounded out a season-high 17 hits and led 9-0 after six innings.
Jorge Castillo homered for the Intimidators.
– Junior Legion
Chris Jacobs hit a three-run homer to seal Rowan’s 8-3 win against Mocksville on Tuesday.
Jacobs was 3-for-3 with four RBIs.
Avery Rogers had a triple. Andy Austin and Chandler Jones pounded doubles.
Bradley Robbins picked up the win with Jones getting the save.
Rowan will play host to Salisbury on Thursday.
– Bain gets ace
Jim Bain’s hole-in-one on No. 5 at Corbin Hills Golf Club was the highlight of a Captain’s Choice GARS event played on Monday.
Seventy-five members participated. Bain, Jay Boyce, Bill Bradley and Bobby Bryant won with a score of minus-12.
Bert Bollings, Lloyd Clodfelter and Mickey Ousley shot minus-11 for second.
Winsten Mahaffey was closest to the pin on No. 2. Bryant made the longest putt on No. 9.
– Ace at Irish Creek
Kevin Simpson made a hole-in-one on No. 8 at the Club at Irish Creek on Sunday.
Simpson used an 8-iron on the 153-yard hole. It was his second ace.
– Indians honored
The North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association All-State College Division team includes Catawba catcher Ryan Query, third baseman Craige Lyerly and relief pitcher Nathan Furr.
– Coastal Plain League
Craige Lyerly (East Rowan, Catawba) went 2-for-4 to help the Asheboro Copperheads beat Gastonia 6-4 on Monday.
– College track
N.C. State’s Jason Jones (East Rowan) finished 19th in the shot put at the Eastern Regional with an effort of 54 feet, 6 inches.
– Corbin Ladies
The Corbin Hills Ladies Golf League played a tournament on Tuesday. Full handicaps were used and each member was allowed to eliminate one hole per nine prior to scoring.
Carolyn Ries won low net. She was followed by Joy Maughmer, Donna Devlieger and Bev Cobb.
Becky Isenhour won low putts.
– College golf
Virginia rising junior Will Collins (Salisbury) finished 96th at the collegiate national championships held in Toledo, Ohio.
Collins led the Cavaliers, shooting rounds of 77-76-73 รณ 226.
Virginia finished 27th.
– South cross country
Students interested in running cross country for South Rowan this fall need to attend a informational meeting this Thursday, June 4, at 6 pm in the Media Center.
There is an overnight and summer beach trip that needs to be discussed.
If you can not attend, call Robert Marchinko at 704-855-7165.
– Carolina Cobras football
The Carolina Cobras of the National Public Safety Football League are 4-1 after beating Washington, D.C.
Next for the Cobras, who include former North Rowan standouts Jarrett Wishon and Marcus Lawing, is a trip to Bakersfield, Calif., to play for the Division II championship.
– Rowan Cobras
The Rowan Cobras girls basketball team finished their basketball season with a third-place showing in the 14-under USSSA state championships.
The girls fought through injuries to put away the N.C. Eagles 50-32 for third place.
Team members were Emma Pope, Maria Gaddy, Lynsey Kurley, Courtney Sweeney, Ashlyn Coley, Katie Barringer, Rachelle Toppings and Ashlie Deal.
The team was coached by David Sweeney, Don Toppings and Addison Sweeney.
– North hoops camp
North Rowan girls basketball coach Tony Hillian will hold his Skills Training Camp June 16-18 at North Rowan.
The camp is for girls and boys ages 7-18 and lasts from 8-12:30 daily. The cost is $20 per camper.
Register May 30 (11-1), June 4 (6-8 p.m.) or June 13 (11-1) at the North gym.
Contact Hillian at 704-202-7275.
– Hoops Unlimited camp
The 16th Annual Hoops Unlimited Basketball Camp for boys and girls will be held at two sites.
Camp at Richfield Elementary will be held June 15-18 for rising 2nd-5th graders and June 22-25 for rising 6th-9th graders.
Camp at Erwin Middle will be held July 6-9 for rising 2nd-5th graders and July 13-16 for rising 6th-9th graders.
The cost of the all-day camp is $95 and includes a camp T-shirt and “all you can eat” lunch daily.
For a brochure or other information, contact camp director Rick Roseman at 704-279-7334.
– Carson camp
Carson basketball camp for boys and girls who will be in grades 2-6 will run from 9 a.m.-noon on July 13-16.
The gym opens at 8 a.m. Anyone interested should contact coach Brian Perry at 704-855-5039. The cost is $60.
– West baseball camps
West Rowan coach David Wright will hold a camp for all ages on Tuesday, June 16, from 9 a.m.-noon. The camp will be at West. This is a makeup of the Hurley camp that was washed out. The cost is $20. Registration starts at 8:15 a.m. on June 16.
* Wright’s summer pitching camp will be held June 22-23 from 9 a.m. until noon for ages 9-14. The cost is $45.
– Catawba football camp
Catawba Football Day Camp will be held July 19-21.
The cost is $75.
Contact coach Todd McComb at 704-637-4733.
– Smith qualifies
Local golfer Lauren Smith shot a 76 in local Women’s U.S. Open qualifying at Pinehurst and advanced to sectional qualifying.