Staff report

MOUNT ULLA — West Rowan rarely overwhelms the opposition, but the Falcons keep finding ways to win baseball games.

West won 5-2 against Carson on Thursday to sweep the season series with the Cougars. West was out-hit 7-5, but made good use of the hits it got.

Freshman Brant Graham pitched two innings for the winners. Drew Burton (2-1, 0.50 ERA) pitched the last five and held the Cougars (8-9, 5-5) to an unearned run.

It was another big win for second-place West  (11-5, 8-2), which is two games behind  frontrunner East Rowan in the South Piedmont Conference, with a series with East coming up next week.

Hayden Simmerson and Jacob Efird had two hits each for the Cougars. Simmerson and Cameron Burleyson had doubles.

Carson scored in the top of the first on Burleyson’s double and a single by Simmerson.

Matthew Connolly, who has both of West’s homers this season, and Burton had doubles in the bottom of the first as the Falcons answered quickly and went ahead 2-1.

Luke Graham leads West in batting average (.429) and had a two-run single in the fourth to make it 4-1. Brice Knox scored on a passed ball for a 5-1 lead.

Emory Taylor singled and scored in the seventh for the Cougars.

Mikey Beasley pitched four innings for Carson and took the loss. Corbin Hales shut out West in the fifth and sixth.

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Dalton Hazlett pitched a one-hitter and Zach Helms homered as Northwest Cabarrus beat South Rowan 5-0 for a sweep.

Logan Ballard and Andrew Jones pitched for the Raiders. It was 0-0 for three innings, but the Trojans scored two in the fourth to take control.

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East Rowan pounded out a 14-3 win at Concord.

North Rowan lost 14-2 to West Davidson. Salisbury lost 10-0 to Reidsville.