From staff and wire reports

Carson’s baseball team stayed tied for first with South Rowan in the South Piedmont Conference standings, but the Cougars got a scare from winless Northwest Cabarrus on Wednesday.

“Northwest was a lot more ready to play than we were, and they played their hearts out,” Carson coach Chris Cauble said. “If you don’t come ready to play, anyone in this league can beat you. We were very lucky.”

Carson (6-2, 5-1 SPC) got strong pitching from Owen White, Clayton Gilmore and Cameron Prugh. The trio of hurlers combined to  hold Northwest to four hits and they pitched around four errors.

With Carson in a four-game week (the Cougars will host South Rowan on Saturday), White was on a  low pitch-count.  The plan was for him to toss three innings and he did.

Both teams scored a run in the first inning.

  Gilmore (2-0) shut out NWC (0-9, 0-7 SPC) in the fourth, fifth and sixth for the win. Prugh earned a save with a scoreless seventh.

Gilmore drove in a run in the first inning. Carson scored the decisive run in the sixth when Luke Barringer scored from third on an error.

Devin Faggart had two hits for the Trojans. Jack Robinson pitched a strong game.

NWC     100 000 0 — 1 3 2

Carson 100 001 x — 2 3 4

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West Rowan’s pitching staff entered Wednesday’s game at Concord with an 0.61 ERA — and lowered it.

The Falcons pounded the Spiders, 12-0, for a South Piedmont Conference win.

Payne Stolsworth was supposed to pitch, but he was knocked out by illness.

Daniel Durham (2-1) stepped in and threw five strong inning with four strikeouts, and Pearce Wilhelm finished off the  shutout for West (6-3, 4-3 SPC).

There was no mercy rule  involved because West didn’t make it a 10-run lead until the top of the seventh.

Austin Love and Brett Graham hit the Falcons’ first two homers of the season. Catawba commit Trevor Atwood came in batting .240 but smacked four hits to lead a 15-hit assault. Graham had three hits and two RBIs. Love drove in three. Brandon Walton had two hits, and Wilhelm knocked in two runs.

“We played a clean game, very good pitching, and we hit it better,” WR coach Seth Graham said.

Concord fell to 0-8 and 0-7 in the SPC.

West       004   130  4  — 12  15  0

Concord 000  000  0 —    0    4   4

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Griffin Myers is one of the county’s most improved players. Myers (3-1) threw a complete game  with four strikeouts on Wednesday as Salisbury beat North Iredell, 5-1, at Robertson Stadium.

The Hornets (4-3) had seven hits, with Blaine Shellhorn and Hut Smith collecting two each.

Will Taylor and Smith drove in two runs apiece to help beat the Raiders (5-5).

N. Iredell  000   100   0 — 1 4 1

Salisbury  000   203   x — 5 7 2

Prep track

West Rowan’s Andrew Burgess turned in a winning clocking of 2:04 in the 800 in Wednesday’s meet in Mount Ulla.

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In a recent meet at Mount Pleasant, A.L. Brown’s boys won easily and the Wonder girls edged Mount Pleasant. Also competing in the meet were Northside Christian and Carolina International.

Brandon Hernandez stood out for the A.L. Brown boys, winning the 1600 in 4:32 and the 3200 in 9:50.

Jaquerius Bost took the 100 (11.1 seconds) and the 200 (23.1). Josh Parks had a PR in the high jump (6 feet, 2 inches) and also won the 400 (52.2).

Tyler Furman won the 300 hurdles, Elijah Hall won the discus, and the Wonders swept the relay events.

A.L. Brown’s girls got wins from Akeena Maxwell in the 100 and , and Ajianna Britt  swept the throws. Savannah Jordan won the 100 hurdles, Christina D’Amelio won the 1600, and Jada Smith took the triple jump. A.L. Brown won the 4×100 and 4×800.

Prep golf

East Rowan shot 161 to win Wednesday’s South Piedmont Conference match at Rocky River.

Next in the team scores were Hickory Ridge (170), Robinson (172), Concord (176) and South Rowan (177). East’s Nick Lyerly was medalist with a 35. Other scorers for East were Alex Miller (41), Bryson Sprinkle (42) and Austin Miller (43).

Robinson’s Riley Smith shot 37. Carson’s Zain Tucker and Hickory Ridge’s Alex Hefner shot 39s.

Parker Chavis led South Rowan with a 41. Patrick Street shot 41 for Carson. Davis Tadlock shot 45 to lead West.

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In Wednesday’s Central Carolina Conference match at Sapona, West Davidson shot 152 to win by a wide margin.

East Davidson and Salisbury tied for second at 186.

West Davidson’s Will Goins was medalist with a 34, and teammate Nicolas Lambeth shot 35.

Alex Antosek shot 42 for the Hornets, Hank Robins carded a 44, and Walker Hartpence shot 48.

Prep softball

Brooke Lowery hit a two-run homer for South Rowan in a 12-2 South Piedmont Conference loss to Hickory Ridge on Wednesday.

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Micah Furr had two hits and three RBIs as Carson beat Northwest Cabarrus on Wednesday, 10-0.

  Kaitlyn Honeycutt had two hits and Brie Bauer had two RBIs to back the pitching of Krista Peninger.

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Central Cabarrus beat Cox Mill, 4-0, on Wednesday in a matchup of SPC contenders.

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In a non-conference matchup on Wednesday,  Davie County beat Glenn, 9-1. Sierra Ferguson homered and drove in three runs. Olivia Boger pitched a three-hitter.

Prep soccer

Salisbury rolled against Albemarle, 7-0, in Wednesday’s non-conference match.

The Hornets (5-1-1) got goals from   Katie Bullock, Julia Honeycutt, Maria Capito, Bess Bryan and Rainey Dunham and scored twice on ricochet own goals.

Rainey and Bryan got their first varsity goals.

Bullock, Bryan, Ceci Cardelle, Nellie Brown, and Anna Grace Woolly had assists.  Juliana Anderson recorded two saves for the shutout.  Salisbury got excellent play from Giselle Nieto, Lila Harry, and Caroline Colwell.

Salisbury hosts Randleman at 6 p.m. tonight.

•••

West Rowan lost to Concord, 8-5, in South Piedmont Conference action on Wednesday.

Emily Muire had a hat trick for the Falcons. Lejla Mehmedovic scored twice.

•••

Gracie Thomason scored for Carson in a 5-1 SPC loss to Northwest Cabarrus.

•••

South Rowan was shut out, 6-0, by Hickory Ridge, and Cox Mill continued to roll, beating Central Cabarrus, 7-1.

Prep tennis

West Rowan won against South Rowan, 5-4,.

Davie won a Central Piedmont Conference match against Reagan.

College tennis

The Johnson C. Smith University women’s tennis team won against Livingstone, 6-0, on Wednesday.

•••

Catawba’s tennis teams won against Lees-McRae on Wednesday.

The Catawba men claimed a 9-0 victory, while the women were 8-1 winners.

College softball

Pfeiffer is in the national top 10 for the first time.

The Falcons are No. 9 this week.

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Newberry swept Catawba 6-0 and 11-4 at Whitley Field in Wednesday’s SAC doubleheader.

Newberry is 21-8, 4-0 South Atlantic Conference. Catawba is 9-24 and 2-2.

  Wolves hurler Devon Morrison took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of the first game before Kristen Stinnard go a hit.

In the second game, Delane Smith had a two-run single for the Indians and Caroline Turner hit a two-run homer.

Catawba got two hits from Smith and Lynnsey Taylor in Game 2.

Catawba travels to Carson-Newman on Saturday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader.

College track  

   In the Southern Power and Fitness Invitational in Hickory, Lees-McRae’s Cody McNeely (West Rowan) placed second in the 1500 in 4:07 and third in the 800 in 1:58.95.

Lees-McRae’s Ben Wilson (West Rowan) was ninth in the javelin.

L-R freshman Jocelyn Lowe (East Rowan) was seventh in the women’s javelin.

Men’s basketball

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. —   No. 3 Lincoln Memorial held the sixth-seeded Wildcats without a field goal for six  minutes in the second half and put together a 15-1 run to pull away late, defeating Chico State 74-61 to advance to the Final Four in the semifinal round of the NCAA Division II tournament Wednesday night at the Sanford Pentagon.

Women’s basketball

  Virginia Union defeated California Baptist 86-81 on Wednesday at Ohio Dominican’s Alumni Hall to reach the D-II national title game.

The Panthers will face Ashland (Ohio) on Friday at 7 p.m.

Ashley Smith scored a game-high 28 points, 22 in the second half. Lady Walker scored 18 points and grabbed 19 rebounds.

Mid. school soccer

Salisbury Academy’s varsity girls  defeated Lexington Middle School on Tuesday, 8-3.

Goal scoring was led by Anna Mead, Morgan Jeter and Sydney Hlavacek.

Mid. school baseball

West Rowan defeated Mooresville 3-1 behind a dominant pitching performance by JD Basinger.

Basinger struck out 14.

Basinger and Casey Gouge had two hits each for the Bulldogs (2-1).

West Rowan will play  Monday at North Rowan.