High school baseball: North, East, Carson, South win on Tuesday

Published 8:55 pm Tuesday, March 21, 2023

From staff reports

SPENCER — North Rowan got its first Central Carolina Conference win, beating Thomasville 8-5 on Tuesday.

Malakie Harris keyed the victory. He had a two-run double and pitched six strong innings for the Cavaliers.

“Thomasville can swing the bats,” North coach Zach Tatatarka said. “We don’t win without a great pitching effort by Malakie.”

With the game tied at 3-all, North (2-3, 1-2) scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to take control.

Jaiden Burch had a key hit for the Cavaliers.

Freshman Carter Boydston pitched the seventh for a save. North pitchers combined for eight strikeouts.

Jaylen Henry had three hits, including two doubles to lead the Bulldogs (5-3, 2-1).

“This is the first game this year where we played to our potential,” Tatarka said. “If we play to our potential, we’re going to be all right.”

•••

CONCORD — Carson’s Hayden Simmerson led off the game with a home run and never let up.

Simmerson turned in a dominant, two-way effort to lead the Cougars to a 10-0, six-inning romp at Northwest Cabarrus.

Simmerson, a Catawba signee, hit two homers and drove in five runs. On the mound, he pitched five shutout innings with nine strikeouts and three walks.

Carson (5-3, 3-0) scored five runs in the second inning.

Will Bradshaw had two of Carson’s nine hits.  Cody Russell had a double, scored two and knocked in one.

Corbin Hales pitched the sixth and struck out two.

Jacob Allen had two hits for the Trojans (4-4, 0-3).

•••

CONCORD — East Rowan blasted Central Cabarrus 11-1 in five innings for a South Piedmont Conference win.

Morgan Padgett had two doubles and three RBIs for the Mustangs (7-2, 3-0) to back a strong pitching outing by Chance Mako.

Blake Hill drove in two runs for the Mustangs. McCall Henderson had a double and a sacrifice fly. Mako had a triple. Logan Dyer stole two bases.

Mako pitched four innings. He struck out eight, walked four and allowed one hit.

Central had a chance for a big second inning, but after walking home a run, Mako worked out of bases-loaded, one out jam with a ground ball and a strikeout.

Dylan Valley pitched the fifth.

•••

•••

CONCORD — South Rowan scored five runs in the second inning and pounded Concord 12-2 in six innings for a South Piedmont Conference win.

Haiden Leffew blasted a three-run homer to lead the offense for the Raiders (3-5, 2-1).

Leffew had two hits. Brett Morris and Andrew Pegram had two hits. Conner Coy and Brooks Hubbard had doubles.

Marshal Faw pitched five innings for the win. Cole Thomas finished up on the mound.

•••

SALISBURY — West Davidson scored in every inning and overpowered Salisbury 16-5 in a five-inning Central Carolina Conference game.

The Green Dragons (1-6, 1-0) were hungry for their first win and got it in a big way. Lucas Greene hit a grand slam. Thomas Hester homered and drove in four runs.

The Hornets (0-8, 0-3) got two hits from Mike Geter and two hits and two RBIs from Hank Webb.

Cole Price pitched three innings and took the loss on the mound.

•••

HUNTERSVILLE — West Rowan lost 6-3 at Lake Norman Charter.

Matt Makowski’s two-run triple in the fifth was the key blow for the Knights (4-3, 1-2), turning a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead.

After allowing two runs in the first inning, Corbin Bailey pitched well for West (4-3, 2-1)  in the second, third and fourth. He struck out seven and walked none.

The Falcons took a 3-2 lead with three runs in the top of the fifth. Cole Blevins had a sac fly and Nate Greene and Luke Graham had RBI singles.

But Makowski came through with his big hit in the bottom of the inning against West reliever Maddox Moore.