By Ryan Bisesi
rbisesi@salisburypost.com
LANDIS — South Rowan treaded water for six innings Friday night.
But in the seventh, a monsoon came hailing in the form of the Mooresville Moors.
South dropped its third straight and fell to 4-15 overall in a 11-2 loss to Mooresville. South remains in last place in the Southern Division of the Area III standings.
Mooresville scored the game’s first nine runs and got great pitching from Bandys stud Hunter Harvey.
“We didn’t make some plays early,” South coach Michael Lowman said. “When you give Harvey a lead he’s tough to come back on.”
Harvey could have won the game by himself, throwing six shutout innings for the win and hitting a three-run home run in the seventh to blow it open. The right-hander allowed five hits, struck out six and walked none in a 90-pitch effort.
“He kept the ball down for the most part and we played good behind him,” Mooresville coach Jeremy Johnson said.
South committed four errors and let a golden opportunity get away in the fifth trailing 2-0. Kyle Bridges singled and Caleb Jackson doubled to start the inning but Harvey retired the next three batters in order and got a run thrown out at home on a dribbler back to the mound.
“We basically had one chance in the game and (Harvey) bared down,” Lowman said.
South pitcher Josh Martin worked around unearned runs in the first and fourth. Seth Hubbard reached on an infield miscue to start the game and scored on Jack Edmiston’s single. In the fourth, Dehyren Booth singled and stole second and went to third on another infield mistake. Hubbard, who reached base in all six plate appearances, pushed Booth home for a 2-0 lead. Mooresville (10-5, 7-5) left 12 on base, including the bases loaded in the third.
“If we just keep some ground balls in the infield those runs don’t score,” Lowman said. “Martin put the ball over the plate.”
After keeping South in it for the first five innings, Martin began to labor in the sixth. Booth scored again after leading off with a single and Hubbard touched home on a wild pitch.
Jack Edmiston reached on a walk to start the seventh and Ian Edmiston singled to complicate things. Harvey followed with a homer, his first of the season. The blast came on the first offering from Martin, who was quickly pulled.
“It was still 4-0 and we were kind of in the game before that,” Lowman said. “That deflated us. That was the big blow.”
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NOTES: DH Ben Gragg provided the only offense of the night for South, hitting a two-run homer off Aaron Harr to make it 9-2. … Gragg and Bridges each had two hits for South. …The Moors added two more in the eighth and got a scoreless frame from Andrew Lloyd in the ninth inning.