From staff reports

Kannapolis (15-8) will play Randolph County, while High Point (16-6) will take on Rowan County in the best-of-5 Area III semifinals that start on Thursday.

Kannapolis held off Winston-Salem, 9-7, on Monday for a 3-0 sweep, while High Point eliminated Davidson County, three games to one.

Kannapolis played from in front after Michael Harrell socked an early three-run homer, but Winston-Salem kept the pressure on all night.

It wasn’t over until Kannapolis closer Jacob Tuttle got the last out on a called strike three with the tying runs on base.

Tuttle also had three hits and drove in two runs.  Jason White (4-1) was the winning pitcher, throwing five innings, and had a triple.  Devin Faggart scored three runs. Cord Butler and Lane Argabright had two hits each.

Kannapolis had not won a playoff series since 2006 before it beat Kernersville in the first round and now it owns another series win.

Winston-Salem had knocked Kannapolis out of the playoffs three straight seasons.

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Koty Proctor homered for High Point. Post 87 took charge with a five-run second inning and banged out 14 hits to put away Post 8.

High Point got two hits each from six different players. Dalton Ward and Avery Cain drove in three runs each.

Holt Biesecker had two hits for Post 8, while Zach Cates had two RBIs.