From staff reports

SALISBURY — After West Davidson beat Salisbury like a drum (13-1) on Tuesday in Tyro, Salisbury baseball coach Carson Herndon expressed optimism about the rematch coming on Thursday.

The Hornets would be at home and while West Davidson had employed ace Thomas Hester to shut down the Hornets in the first meeting, the Hornets would have their top two arms (Evan Koontz and Hank Webb) ready for the rematch, while West Davidson had to drop off some in the pitching department.

Everything went great for a while for the Hornets (1-5, 1-3) in the Central Carolina Conference game.

Koontz stranded three Green Dragons on the base paths in the top of the first, and then Salisbury put six runs on the board in the bottom half. Ben Young doubled, Mike Geter walked, and Young stole home, while West Davidson was trying to pick off Geter. Cole Price knocked in a run for 2-0. Aiden Mowery drove one in for 3-0. Then Jaylin Graham-Taylor smashed a three-run homer.

It was still 6-0 after two, but the Green Dragons scored four in the third and started a comeback.

Mowery’s second RBI made it 7-4, but it was 7-all after three.

Geter socked Salisbury’s second three-run homer of the game, but it still wasn’t enough. West Davidson (9-2, 4-0) never stopped hitting and won the slugfest 15-12.

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CHINA GROVE — Jayven Parks launched a two-run homer in the first inning for the Cougars, with Corbin Hales, on base, but Carson didn’t score again in a 4-2 loss to Northwest Cabarrus on Thursday.

Parks is batting .429 with three homers and 10 RBIs.

Once, Northwest starter Dalton Hazlett settled in, he dominated. He struck out 10 and walked three.

Carson starter Maverick Walkers made it into the sixth inning, but with seven strikeouts and six walks the young southpaw threw a lot of pitches.

Relief ace Hales entered in the sixth in a 2-all game, and the Trojans won it with a two-run seventh.

Cooper Greene had two hits and two RBIs for the Trojans. Taylor Smith drove in one run. Blake Gaffney had a double.

It was a tough home loss in the South Piedmont Conference for the Cougars (6-3, 5-2).

Northwest (5-5, 4-4) is expected to win its share. Hazlett has an ERA of 1.52.

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LANDIS — South Rowan scored eight runs in the second inning and beat Lake Norman Charter 11-6 on Thursday.

It was a good win for the Raiders (4-5, 3-4) against a Lake Norman Charter team (5-3, 5-3) that has beaten West Rowan and Carson.

Corey Bean and Jake Makowski had two RBIs each for the Knights.

South had 11 hits and took advantage of five walks and four errors.

“It was a good team win,” coach Grayson Miller said. “We had contributions from up and down the lineup.