By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Rowan County finished the regular season with another early knockout.

Mocksville, which only brought nine players to Newman Park, was steamrolled 11-1 in five innings on Monday by a Rowan County team that has posted three long winning streaks this summer.

Nine in a row. Nine in a row again. And now 12 straight.

JT Taylor’s three-run homer, his eighth of the summer, came in the second inning and was the key blow. Taylor added another triple. He’s had a flurry of three-baggers in the last week. He scored three runs.

Rowan had 16 hits while making 12 outs, so just about everyone feasted at the dish. Luke Graham and Morgan Padgett were 3-for-3. Blake Hill, Hayden Simmerson and Cole Johnson got two hits each. Both of Hill’s hits were doubles.

Drew Burton, Maverick Walters and Emory Taylor handled the pitching. There wasn’t much stress after Taylor’s homer.

Rowan (30-3, 10-0) dominated the Southern Division of Area III during the regular season, but the Area III playoffs should get challenging in the semifinals. There are two outstanding teams in the North. Randolph County (17-3,4-2) has beaten Rowan twice. High Point (10-3, 6-0) has beaten Randolph twice in league games and leads the Northern Division.

Rowan is scheduled to play the fourth seed from the Northern Division at home on Sunday, July 9, to begin the playoffs. That probably will be Foothills (Surry), which had a 10-9 win against High Point in non-league action.

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CONCORD — Rowan County secured the division championship with a 9-1 victory at Kannapolis on Sunday night.

Morgan Padgett pitched five shutout innings. Alex Hagler and Cameron Burleyson finished things off.

Kannapolis only got three hits and didn’t score until the seventh.

JT Taylor started the game with an opposite-field, line-drive homer and Rowan put five runs on the board in the first inning. Johnson got the fifth run home with a bunt.

Graham and Padgett scored two runs each. Johnson knocked in two.

Center fielder Elijah Palmer made a catch at the fence to take a homer away from Kannapolis slugger Jalan Chambers.

Chambers had a strong relief performance on the mound. He entered in the first inning and kept Kannapolis’ deficit at 5-0 until late in the game. He struck out eight.

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CONCORD — Kannapolis (14-5, 7-2) hasn’t looked great in four losses to Rowan County, but has done well against everyone else.

Post 115 pounded Davidson County 10-2 on Monday behind a complete-game effort by Zack Helms.

Chambers drove in three runs. Helms, Daniel Savage and Aaron Jones had two hits each.