By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Always expect the unexpected when it comes to American Legion baseball.

Rowan County was notified on Saturday that Foothills would be forfeiting a first-round playoff series due to a lack of players.

That forfeit meant two more wins in the record books, It also advanced Rowan County into the Area III semifinals without throwing a pitch.

That semifinal series starts on July 13 and will be best-of-five. It will be a series that should bring back memories of better times for Legion baseball. Like Rowan, Randolph County is one of the state’s best teams and is one win away from making that epic series a reality.

Randolph County handled Davidson County 8-1 to open a best-of-three series on Sunday. Braylen Hayes and Tanner Marsh hit two-run homers for Post 45, while Robert Garner pitched six strong innings.

With Foothills folded, Rowan wanted to play someone on Sunday, needed to get some work in, needed to give the fans a show, and a phone call by Rowan coach Jim Gantt to Concord coach Jaymie Russ, who starred on the mound for Concord Legion back in the day, got the desired results.

Russ’ team, weary from doubleheaders and last-place finishers in the Southern Division of Area III to fall short of the playoffs, still graciously agreed to provide the opposition for Rowan County.

If it’s the last game in front of a crowd that some of the Concord guys will ever play, well, at least they got to play it at Newman Park, and they went out in style with their best effort.

Concord actually managed four hits against Rowan ace Hayden Simmerson in three innings, although those hits didn’t produce any runs. Concord also didn’t score against Emory Taylor, Matthew Connolly or Luke Graham, the hurlers who followed Simmerson to the mound and finished off a 10-0 victory.

Rowan’s pitching isn’t dominant, as far as strikeouts, but there’s a lot of it. Thirteen players on the current roster have pitched this summer.

Rowan (33-3) led Concord 4-0 after the first inning, so there never was any suspense, but hot dogs, slushies and peanuts were sold and a fine time was had by a good crowd.

Rowan got a two-run homer in the second inning from JT Taylor that had fans bringing out tape measures. It cleared the scoreboard with room to spare and was a no-doubter from the time it screamed off the shortstop’s explosive bat. The homer was Taylor’s ninth. He’s had an epic summer, with 47 runs scored and 47 RBIs. He leads off and he’s still got 17 more RBIs than Morgan Padgett, who is second on the team in that category.

Cole Johnson and Simmerson had two RBIs each.  Luke Graham is a single waiting to happen and he stroked his 47th and 48th hits of the summer. Padgett and Blake Hill also had two hits. Cameron Burleyson scored two runs and had the fun of being on base in front of JT Taylor’s blast.

JT Taylor, Graham and Padgett are hitting well over .400 for the summer.

They also  played a second “game” on Sunday, although it has to be considered a scrimmage with no counting stats as Rowan lefty Mikey Beasley served as the starting pitcher for Concord.

Rowan cheerfully scored five times in the first inning against their buddy and won 12-0. Padgett pitched well for Rowan as he tuned up for his start in the next series.

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CONCORD — Tanner Kaler pitched brilliantly as Kannapolis Post 115 won its playoff opener against Chatham County 3-0 on Sunday.

Kaler threw a one-hitter for the Towlers, with the lone hit coming on a fister that just got over the infield. The Northwest Cabarrus standout fanned 14.

Kannapolis had several chances to break it open, but couldn’t get the big hit.

Brooks Hubbard came pretty close to a grand slam, but a running catch turned his long drive into a sacrifice fly.

Joe Javier hit a home run leading off the bottom of the first for Kannapolis.

A young Kannapolis team that is 16-5 (four losses were to Rowan) will make the long haul to Jordan-Matthews High in Siler City to play Chatham County in Game 2 on Monday.

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High Point opened its playoff series with Mocksville on Sunday with a 7-0 victory.

 

Playoffs

Quarterfinals (best of 3)

Sunday’s games

(1S) Rowan County d. (4N) Foothills, forfeit

(1N) High Point 7, (4S) Mocksville 0

(2S) Kannapolis 3, (3N) Chatham County 0

(2N) Randolph County 8, (3S) Davidson County 1

Monday’s games

(1S) Rowan County d. (4N) Foothills, forfeit

(1N) High Point at (4S) Mocksville

(2S) Kannapolis at (3N) Chatham County

(2N) Randolph County at (3S) Davidson County

Semifinals (best of 5), starts July 13

(1S) Rowan County vs. Randolph-Davidson winner

High Point-Mocksville winner vs. Kannapolis-Chatham County winner