NC3 baseball: Rowan wins two at Mando Field

Published 3:25 am Monday, June 29, 2020

By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

MOCKSVILLE — Rowan County rolled 12-0 and 7-1 against Mocksville on Sunday at Mando Field in a designated non-league NC3 baseball doubleheader.

There was a rain delay of almost an hour in the bottom of the first in the opening game. The second of the two seven-inning games was a long one and ended around 11 p.m.

The games were limited to 25 fans in the ballpark, but quite a few more were able to watch the action from outside the gates.

Rowan (5-1) played its standard lineup in Game 1.

Jordan Goodine went 4-for-4 to lead an onslaught by Rowan hitters. The first four batters in the lineup combined for 11 hits.

The big blows were a two-run homer by Cole Hales in the first inning, his second blast of the summer, and a three-run shot by DH Caden Hudson in the fourth that made it 5-0.

Wayne Mize lashed hits in his last three at-bats. Hales and Charlie Klingler produced two hits each.

On the mound, young lefty Casey Gouge was in complete command for four innings and got the win. Right-hander Mattox Henderson pitched the final three innings, maintained the shutout and earned a save.

Mocksville (1-3) was limited to four hits, including a double by Joe Johnson.

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Rowan rested most of its big bats — Klingler, Goodine, Mize and Hales — in the second game, just as it did on Saturday, but Mocksville made enough mistakes to allow Rowan to win easily.

Rowan had only one run-scoring hit in the nightcap — CP Pyle’s single during a four-run fourth inning.

Rowan used a sac fly by JT Fecteau, an RBI groundout by Daniel Sell and a series of walks, errors and wild pitches to cruise behind effective pitching, especially by starter and winner Dylan Driver, who allowed just one hit in four innings of work. Andrew Kennerly struck out the side in the fifth. Kaleb Burleyson made his season debut on the mound in the sixth after Kennerly ran into some trouble. Burleyson is listed as a catcher, but coach Jim Gantt indicated last week that Burleson’s arm is ahead of his bat, at this point, so most of his action is going to come on the mound.

Shortstop Zeb Burns, also pitching for the first time this season, closed things out with a 1-2-3 seventh.

Ty Staz drove in the only Mocksville run with a sixth-inning double.

Pyle led Rowan’s offense with three hits, including a double. Hudson had a double to start the game.

Pyle also made a nice catch of a line drive in the sixth after Mocksville put the first three batters on base and threatened to have a big inning.

Mocksville starting pitcher Wyatt Jester held Rowan to two runs in three innings but took the loss.

Boxscores for the doubleheader are in Tuesday’s print edition.

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Rowan is off Monday.

Rowan is scheduled to host Mount Airy at Newman Park on Tuesday for a 5 p.m. doubleheader, although restrictions for fans in the park are still in place. Rowan is accepting donations to cover expenses for food, umpires, travel and use of the facility. The concession stand will be operating on Tuesday for fans who want to come by.

Rowan’s first league game is scheduled for July 4 at home against Randolph County.

Randolph won 6-5 against Kannapolis on Sunday.  Aiden Schenck had three hits for Kannapolis, while Tyler Grady had two.