West Rowan lost 6-5 to host South Caldwell in the Junior American Legion state tournament on Tuesday afternoon and was eliminated from the double-elimination event.
West Rowan (23-12) finished third in Granite Falls, matching the showing it had in its first state-tournament appearance in 2013.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better group of guys,” West Rowan coach Jesse Link said. “We just didn’t have quite enough. We lost, but we held our heads high.”
West Rowan dropped a back-and-forth game to South Caldwell. West Rowan trailed 3-0 early before fighting back.
West Rowan scored single runs in the fifth and sixth to get within 3-2.
In the top of the seventh, Brandon Walton came through with a game-tying hit, and Olen Stamper had a hit that put West Rowan ahead 4-3.
“Stamper had a lot of big hits in the tournament for us,” Link said.
A wild pitch gave West Rowan a 5-3 lead.
But South Caldwell rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull the game out.
Walton had two RBIs for West Rowan. Mykal Berger had a triple.
Starter Daniel Durham pitched into the fourth inning on short rest. Payne Stohlsworth gave West Rowan a chance to rally and take the lead. Cole Hales and Brett Graham relieved in the seventh.
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South Caldwell advanced to the state championship game and lost 7-6 to Davidson County.