College baseball: Connolly swinging hot bat for Surry CC

Published 11:39 am Sunday, March 17, 2024

 

Staff report

DOBSON — Former West Rowan and Rowan County American Legion catcher Matthew Connolly is having an extraordinary freshman season for the Surry Community College Knights.

Connolly is batting .393 with four homers and 27 RBIs for the Knights (19-4). He’s also walked 22 times, so his on-base percentage is an insane .560. Even crazier, Connolly has stolen 22 bases in 24 attempts.

Connolly has been such a dynamic force offensively that he’s used at first base or DH on the days he rests from catching duties.

Jalan Chambers (A.L. Brown) is a sophomore at Surry and is a two-way player. He’s batting .338 with three homers, 23 RBIs and 18 steals. On the mound, Chambers is 4-0 and is striking out 11.3 batters per nine innings.

Luke Graham (West Rowan) has been the starter at second base for Surry.He’s batting .299 with 23 runs scored. He’s been getting on base with 15 walks in addition to his 20 hits.

Mikey Beasley (Carson) is one of the key starting pitchers for Surry. He’s 3-0 and had a terrific start on Saturday against Rockingham.

JD Basinger (East Rowan) also is 3-0 on the mound.

Emory Taylor (Carson), Elijah Palmer (West Rowan) and Zach McNeely (West Rowan) have contributed to Surry wins.

Taylor has played in 13 games and is batting .324. Palmer has batted .244 in 15 games. McNeely has played in seven games.