From staff  and wire reports

East Rowan rising junior pitcher Jake Hunter has  committed to East Carolina.

As a sophomore for the Mustangs, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound right-hander had a 6-1 record.

Hunter had the county’s lowest ERA (0.32) and most strikeouts (102) and pitched a no-hitter in the first round of the 3A state playoffs.

He was the North Piedmont Conference Pitcher of the Year.

Hunter also bats for the Mustangs and drove in 19 runs.

Jr. Legion baseball

HIGH POINT — South Rowan’s Junior Legion baseball team lost to R-S Central 12-11 in 10 innings on Friday night in state tournament pool play.

Patrick Holden had three hits and three runs scored for South. Drew Huffman had a two-run double and three RBIs. Ty Hubbard had three hits and drove in two runs. Kane Kepley had two hits.

Haiden Leffew, a rising freshman at South, had a great relief effort and gave South a chance to come back. He struck out seven in 4 2/3 innings.

Down 4-1, South had a four-run third to take a 5-4 lead.

R-S Central scored seven runs in the fourth for an 11-5 lead, but South chipped away and tied the game at 11-all with a three-run seventh.

No one scored again until R-S Central got the winning run in the bottom of the 10th.

•••

After some weather delays at Finch Field, South Rowan beat Ahoskie 11-4  late Saturday night.

Jacob Ritchie relieved in the fourth inning and shut down Ahoskie the rest of the way.

South (23-5) had an eight-run fourth inning to wipe out a 4-2 deficit.

Kepley and Jackson Deal had two hits, and Joseph James drove in three runs.

South plays in the 4 p.m. game today at Wesleyan Christian Academy vs. West Carteret. Both teams are 1-1. The winner will advance to the semifinals.

Legion baseball

Spencer Lanier’s two-run single in the eighth lifted Randolph County to an 8-6 win against High Point on Friday.

Randolph won the Area III semifinal series three games to one and takes on Davidson County tonight at 7 at McCrary Park for the Area III championship.

Randolph and Davidson are both headed to the state tournament in Cherryville that starts on Friday.

Cherryville won the Area IV championship, beating the Gaston Braves 12-8.

The Gaston Braves and Union County have also qualified for the state tournament.

Kinston has qualified from Area I and will be joined by Fuquay-Varina or Franklin County.

The lone Area II representative will be Wilmington or Wallace.

•••

Mocksville shortstop Joey Szvetitz, who is headed to Winthrop, broke the program record for batting average in a season, batting .469.

Shane Wagoner batted .449 in 1990 for the previous record.

Little League softball

SALISBURY — Down three runs going to the bottom of the ninth, Rowan Little League’s 16U softball team rallied to beat Florida 9-8 late Saturday night at Salisbury Community Park in a game in the Southeast Regional.

Rowan led 4-0 early and took a 5-3 lead to the seventh, but  Florida rallied for two runs to force extra innings.

After a scoreless eighth, international rules were employed in the ninth. Florida started the top of the ninth with a runner at second base and pushed across three runs to lead 8-5.  Yanni David had a two-run single that left Rowan looking at a big deficit.

Rowan began the bottom of the ninth with the automatic runner at second base.

A one-out error gave Rowan runners at first and third before Kary Hales smacked a double to cut the deficit to 8-7.

Another error aided Rowan, and put two girls on base, but after Florida got the lead runner out on a ground ball by Claire Long, Rowan was down to its last out.

Allie Burns got behind in the count 0-and-2, and Rowan was down to its last strike, but Burns doubled to left field on a 1-and-2 pitch to plate Ellen Yang with the tying run.

Then Cailynn Winford grounded a single through the right side to score Long with the game-winner.

Hales won her second game of the day in the circle, this time in relief of Kendall Robinson, who pitched into the ninth inning.

Robinson struck out five, walked two and allowed a homer by Audrey Mills.

Hales homered in the first, her second of the day, for a 1-0 lead.  Abbey Nixon scored on a passed ball for a 2-0 lead in the second.

Burns singled in a run in the third and scored on an error for a 4-0 lead.

Rowan went up 5-3 in the sixth when Bentli Meadows singled home Nixon.

Florida      000 300 203   —   8    11   4

Rowan       112  001  004   — 9    11    2

W — Hales. L —Dee Bent.

HR — Florida: Mills. Rowan: Hales

Leading hitters — Florida: Mills 3-for-4, 2 RBIs: David 3-for-5, 2 RBIs; Natalie Sibert 2-for-3. Rowan: Hales 2-for-5, 3 RBIs; Winford 2-for-5, RBI; Burns 2-for-5, 2 RBIs: Long 2-for-5.

Rowan lost to South Carolina 11-3 late Saturday.

South Carolina scored three runs in the top of the first and never trailed.

Rowan had seven hits, with Hales getting two.

Four teams are left in the regional, with Virginia, Florida and Rowan having one loss. South Carolina is 3-0.

Florida plays Virginia today at 10:30 a.m. in an elimination game, with the  winner taking on Rowan at   1 p.m. in another elimination game.

The winner of the 1 p.m. game will play South Carolina for the regional championship at 4 p.m.

The 16U World Series will be held in Delaware.

Intimidators

KANNAPOLIS — Romy Gonzalez hit a run-scoring double in the eighth inning, leading the Kannapolis Intimidators to a 4-2 win over the Lakewood BlueClaws on Saturday.

The double by Gonzalez, part of a two-run inning, gave the Intimidators a 3-2 lead before Andrew Vaughn scored on an error later in the inning.

Kannapolis took a 2-0 lead after Gunnar Troutwine hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning and Johan Cruz hit a solo home run in the sixth. Lakewood answered in the next half-inning when Malvin Matos got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Ben Pelletier drew a bases-loaded walk.

Austin Conway (1-0) got the win with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit relief while Manuel Silva (2-4) took the loss in the South Atlantic League game.