Baseball roundup: South keeps winning, still tied for first with Mustangs

Published 2:13 am Saturday, April 23, 2022

From staff reports

LANDIS — South Rowan’s undefeated Carson Crainshaw was sharp again, and his teammates had the bats going.

Crainshaw (5-0) allowed only two hits and struck out six, as the Raiders hammered Carson 10-0 in five innings.

A 6-foot-5 senior right-hander who mixes sweeping curves with a low 80s fastball, Crainshaw has given the Raiders a terrific No. 2 pitcher all season.

He got plenty of offensive support, as Ty Hubbard, Nathan Chrismon, Kane Kepley and JD James produced multiple hits. Hubbard rapped two doubles, while Chrismon and Kepley had one each.

South scored four runs in the first inning to take control. The Raiders knocked out big lefty Casey Crawford (3-3) in the third inning and continued to hit against Mikey Beasley, who replaced Crawford on the mound.

Jacob Efird and Emory Taylor had the only hits for the Cougars (13-8, 6-6), who dropped to fifth place in the South Piedmont Conference.

Carson beat South in the F&M Bank Cannon Ballers Classic title game on Monday, but South stayed focused on the conference race. The Raiders rolled in the two SPC match-ups, winning 10-5 on Tuesday at Carson and pounding the Cougars in a mercy-rule game on Friday.

South (16-4, 11-1) continued a banner season and stayed tied for first place in the SPC with East Rowan. South and East split their meetings.

East held off West Rowan 7-4 on Friday to stay deadlocked with the Raiders.

South finishes the regular season with two games against West next week, while East plays Northwest Cabarrus twice. West and Northwest are tied for third.

Carson will wind up SPC action with two games next week against Lake Norman Charter.

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Northwest Cabarrus, as usual, got stellar pitching (nine strikeouts) from Tanner Kaler and Dalton Hazlett and beat Central Cabarrus 4-1 on Friday.

In another SPC game, Lake Norman Charter beat Concord 3-0.

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LEXINGTON — Joseph Hartman (2-5) pitched a two-hitter as North Rowan breezed to an 11-0 Central Carolina Conference win against Lexington on Friday.

Dylan Bates had two hits for the Cavaliers (4-10, 3-6).  Hartman, Zack Foster, Breadon Castor and Trey Johnson socked doubles.

Peja Ellis and Tnori Threadgill had hits for the Yellow Jackets (1-15, 0-10).

North finished a sweep of the Yellow Jackets.

Malakie Harris (2-3) homered, doubled and pitched a three-inning shutout in North’s 15-0 romp against Lexington earlier this week. Isaiah Montgomery doubled and tripled. Bates also had a double and a triple. Bates’ triple came with the bases loaded.

North has three CCC games scheduled for next week, including two with Salisbury.

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Salisbury suffered a 12-1 non-conference loss to Reidsville on Friday.

The Rams (6-12) scored 10 unearned runs in the first inning to take control against the Hornets (10-9) and won in five innings.

Connor Price went 2-for-2 with a double to lead Salisbury. Hank Webb (1-1) took the mound loss. Webb had a hit and scored Salisbury’s run.

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Davie got homers from Coy James and Davin Whitaker and crushed Parkland 20-3 in a Central Piedmont Conference game on Friday.

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In the minor leagues, Owen White (Carson) didn’t have a great outing for Hickory on Friday. White allowed four runs, four hits and four walks, while striking out four.  White (0-1) threw 70 pitches and left the game in the fifth. Wilmington won 10-3.

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The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers got down 7-0 early and lost 12-5 to Fredericksburg on Friday.

Samil Polanco and Misael Gonzalez walloped home runs for the Cannon Ballers.

Attendance was announced at 3,096 at Atrium Health Ballpark.

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Catawba (26-21, 14-8) got off to a great start in its final home South Atlantic Conference series of the season.

The Indians shelled Tusculum 16-1.

The Indians scored 12 runs in the fourth and cruised. Greg Brown got the win. Dylan Wilkinson homered and drove in four runs.

Catawba will try to sweep a doubleheader at renovated Newman Park today.