Staff report

GRANITE QUARRY — West Rowan batted around in the fifth inning and rallied to beat West Stanly, 5-3, on Saturday at Staton Field.

The Falcons (7-6) earned a victory in the first round of the East Rowan Spring Break Tournament and will take on Cox Mill in a semifinal on Monday at 7 p.m. Cox Mill beat South Iredell, 2-1, in the first of Saturday’s four games.

West trailed 3-0 going to the fifth inning and had been shut down by West Stanly hurler Cody Kidd. But the Falcons bunched six of their nine hits in the fifth and scored five runs.

Mo Salazar started the inning with a bloop hit. Cameron Graham lined a single and J.T. Fecteau reached on an error to load the bases with no outs.

With one out, Logan Sproul’s infield hit got the Falcon on the board. Mykal Berger drew a bases-loaded walk for a run, and Payne Stolsworth’s hit made it 3-all.

Daniel Durham singled in the go-ahead run with a groundball through the right side. Batting for the second time in the inning, Salazar singled again. His hit made it 5-3, but Stolsworth was thrown out at the plate.

West Rowan used five pitchers. Starter Cullen Davis pitched three innings. The winner was Scout Nichols. He got the last out in the top of the fifth and was the beneficiary of the Falcon’s big inning. Stolsworth got the last five outs to earn a save.

Henry Hall and Carsen Bailey also hurled for West Rowan.

Durham and Salazar had two hits each. Sproul was 1-for-1 and walked twice.Fecteau scored two runs.

 

West Stanly     003    001   0   — 4   5   2

West Rowan  000    051    x   — 6   9   3

W — Nichols (2-1). L — Kidd. S — Stolsworth (1).

Leading hitters — West Stanly: Daniel Burleson 2 hits. West Rowan: Daniel Durham 2-for-3, RBI; Mo Salazar 2-for-3, RBI.