From staff reports
Craige Lyerly (East Rowan, Catawba) has been assigned to the Charlotte Stone Crabs in Port Charlotte, Fla.
It’s a nice promotion for Lyerly, 23, who has been in extended Spring Training in Port Charlotte in the Tampa Bay Rays organization.
The Stone Crabs are an advanced Class A team in the Florida State League, so Lyerly may be given the opportunity to skip over the Rays’ low A team in Bowling Green, Ky.
Lyerly debuted with two hits on Saturday, but he went 0-for-4 as the left fielder on Sunday.
Lyerly batted .285 with three homers and 17 steals in 50 games at short-season Hudson Valley in 2011.
Wilmington’s Whit Merrifield (Davie, South Carolina) went 2-for-4 on Sunday in a 3-1 loss to Potomac.
Merrifield, who led off and played center field in the advanced Class A Carolina League contest, stole his sixth base and lifted his batting average to .272.
Ryan Query (A.L. Brown, Catawba) had two hits for Lynchburg in Sunday’s 4-1 Carolina League win against Myrtle Beach.
Query, a catcher, is batting .278 in 18 at-bats and is playing more now that Evan Gattis, one of he Braves’ top prospects, was promoted to Double A Mississippi on May 1.
The Kannapolis Intimidators lost to Hickory 5-3 on Sunday at CMC-NorthEast Stadium.
Kannapolis (12-17) has lost seven of eight against Hickory (18-11) this season.
Kevan Smith homered for the Intimidators.
Jordan Akins, Zach Cone and Joe Maloney homered for Hickory.
The series continues tonight at 7:05 p.m.
Major leagues
Kyle Seager (NW Cabarrus, UNC) knocked in another run for Seattle on Sunday and has 10 RBIs in his last five games.
AP photos this week have featured Seager being hugged by Ichiro Suzuki and Felix Hernandez, the Mariner’s biggest names, so maybe he’s in the big leagues to stay.
For the season, Seager, a 24-year-old third baseman, has four homers, 17 RBIs and a .298 batting average.
While Seager’s power is surprising people, it’s no shock that he’s hitting for average. A third-round draft pick, he batted .328 in 269 minor league games, with 81 doubles.
He batted .345 in advanced A ball, .312 in Double A and .387 in a brief stop in Triple A last season.
Bobby Parnell (East Rowan, Charleston Southern) is quietly doing some fine work out of the bullpen for the New York Mets.
Parnell has a 2.84 ERA in 13 appearances. The eye-popping stat is his 16 strikeouts in 122/3 innings, while allowing only two walks. He’s allowed one homer — to Colorado catcher Ramon Hernandez at Coors Field.
College baseball
When he’s healthy, Charlotte catcher Ross Steedley (East Rowan) is a force and he made it back to the lineup to go 3-for-4 in a 6-5, 11-inning loss to Georgia Tech on Sunday in the second game of a twin bill.
Justin Roland (East) had two hits and knocked in two runs, and Corbin Shive (East) also had two hits for the 49ers.
In the opener of the doubleheader, Shive hit his sixth homer and knocked in two runs in a 6-3 loss.
Appalachian State fell 10-8 to UNC Greensboro on Sunday.
Trey Holmes (East Rowan) drove in one run, and Preston Troutman (East) went 1-for-3.
Prep tennis
Carson freshman Hayden Faulkenbury advanced to the 3A Midwest Regional semifinals at Concord’s Myers Park and qualified for the upcoming individual 3A state tournament in Burlington.
Salisbury has a second-round dual team 2A playoff match scheduled for Tuesday at home against Maiden.
Prep playoffs
Prep playoffs in soccer are scheduled to begin on Wednesday, with softball and baseball playoffs set to start on Friday.
Official brackets have not been released yet by the NCHSAA.
Legion baseball
Legion baseball games are scheduled as early as May 20, although Rowan plans to start on May 25, and South Rowan plans a May 24 opener.
Youth track
The Hurley YMCA Warriors had an outstanding meet at UNCC on Saturday. More than 1,500 athletes participated.
The top six finishers in each age group got ribbons.
Alex Trexler of Lexington competed in the 11-12 division and was first in the turbo javelin (70 feet, 11 inches) and sixth in the discus (54-9).
Southeast Middle’s Andrew Burgess competed in the 11-12 division and placed second in the 800 (2:31.01) and fourth in the 400 (1:03.81).
Kaitlyn Trexler of Lexington competed in the 13-14 division was fifth in the discus (58-11).
West Rowan High’s Cameron Isenhour was second in the javelin (88-4).
The Warriors will compete in Gastonia next week.
Youth basketball
The Rowan Hurricanes girls basketball team won its second straight championship by winning the Ballin’ in the ‘Ville Tournament Saturday in Statesville.
The Canes are 9-1 in their last 10 games and have finished first or second in their last five tournaments.
The Hurricanes beat Dedicated Sports of Charlotte 29-18. Keke Mashore had 10 points and eight rebounds to lead the way.
The Hurricanes outscored the McDowell Titans 35-21. Janiya Downs had 11 points and five assists. Payton Russell also scored 11.
In a 30-15 win over the Watauga Storm in the championship game, Ty Alexander had nine points and nine rebounds, Downs had seven points, and Mashore scored six.
Local golf
Will Collins (Salisbury) shot 68-71-75-71 — 285 in the Nationwide Tour’s Stadion Classic in Athens, Ga.
He won $1,691.
The McCanless Couples enjoyed a two-man better ball format on Sunday.
Teams were picked in a blind draw after nine holes of play.
Frank Foster and Ricky Honeycutt were the first-place team. Second place went to Walt Kincaid and Phyllis Morris. The longest putt on No. 9 was won by Tim Earnhardt.