High school baseball: Falcons, Cougars, Trojans get SPC wins
Published 10:53 pm Wednesday, April 5, 2023
- West Rowan coach Seth Graham. photo by Wayne Hinshaw, for the Salisbury Post
From staff reports
MOUNT ULLA — West Rowan’s baseball team didn’t beat down any fences and probably didn’t scare anyone, but wins are wins.
The Falcons won 3-0 at home against Concord in a game moved up to Wednesday by weather concerns.
The Falcons swept the low-scoring series and are alone in second place in the South Piedmont Conference.
Freshman Brant Graham (2-0) shut out Concord for five innings, allowing one hit and one walk. He struck out five.
Drew Burton pitched the sixth. Luke Graham pitched the seventh and earned his second save.
Back-to-back doubles by Elijah Palmer and Matthew Connolly gave West a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Palmer and Zach McNeely had RBIs as the Falcons made it 3-0 in the third.
West (9-4, 6-2) had only five hits, with Palmer and Luke Graham, who is batting .400, getting two each.
Reed Martin pitched a complete game for Concord (2-11, 0-8).
West is scheduled to play at 7 p.m. on Friday at Staton Field against Hickory Ridge, although weather could be a factor.
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CONCORD — Carson held on to beat Central Cabarrus 6-4 in a South Piedmont Conference tussle.
The game was moved up to Wednesday due to weather concerns.
Carson (7-7, 5-3) was in complete control for six innings, but it was tough getting the last three outs. The Vikings (3-8, 1-7) scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh without getting a hit and had the bases loaded when Casey Crawford finally got a strikeout to end it.
Carson didn’t do a ton offensively, getting only five hits, but the Cougars took advantage of mistakes by the Vikings.
Cameron Burleyson had two hits for the Cougars.
Carson took a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Austin Efird’s double keyed the inning, as it moved a runner to third. Carson scored on a passed ball and got another run on a single by Jacob Efird.
Carson made it 5-0 in the sixth, using walks and HBPs to stretch the lead. Errors helped the Cougars tack on one more run in the seventh.
Winning pitcher Mikey Beasley (2-4) was in control on the mound through six innings, He struck out seven, while allowing two walks and two hits.
When Central’s seventh inning began with a walk and two hit batsmen, coach Kyle Bridges summoned Crawford from the bullpen.
Crawford got two outs, with a strikeout and a groundball. The groundball scored the run that made it 6-1, but the Cougars were happy to trade a run for an out.
The next four batters walked to make it 6-4 and reloaded the bases, but Crawford got ahead of a hitter with a swinging strike and was able to finish him off.
The teams are scheduled to play again on Friday in the Kannapolis Cannonballers’ Easter tourney, but watch for weather updates.
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Northwest Cabarrus beat Lake Norman Charter 5-4 in eight innings on Wednesday to split that series.
It was another exciting South Piedmont Conference game.
Northwest (8-6, 4-4) scored two in the seventh to tie it at 2-all, then got three in the bottom of the eighth to win it.
Alex Walker’s hit tied the game in the seventh.
Landon Finley’s two-run single in the eighth tied it again, and Tyler Smith delivered the game-winning hit.
Lake Norman Charter also is 8-6 and 4-4.
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The East Rowan at South Rowan game has been moved up to 4 p.m. on Thursday.
The jayvee game will be played after the varsity game if weather permits.