East Rowan head coach Brett Hatley. Photo Credit: Sean Meyers

By Mike London

Salisbury Post

GRANITE QUARRY — First of all, East Rowan’s baseball team wasn’t all that far from winning it all for the second year in a row.

East’s surreal, 14-inning loss to North Lincoln in the fourth round of the state playoffs felt a little more painful last Saturday when North Lincoln won the state title 1-0 thanks to a run-scoring dribbler up the third-base line in Game 3 of the 3A State Championship Series.

Maybe it was just North Lincoln’s year. The Knights, who were one out away from having their season ended by the Mustangs at Staton Field back on May 16, won 2-0 and 1-0 on the last day of the season against Greenville’s JH Rose High and got to hoist the giant trophy.

East lost a great deal of talent to graduation, but still had Harrison Ailshie this season, and that gave the Mustangs a giant step toward having another terrific team. The junior slugger/slinger was honored as the best player in all of 3A on Tuesday. As a two-way player, he is as good as the hype and then some. He was 9-1 with 117 strikeouts and a 1.02 ERA. Every pitcher knew he needed to maneuver around Ailshie when he faced East, but Ailshie still batted .412 with six homers, an insane 18 doubles — 18 doubles in 31 games is ridiculous — and 30 RBIs. There’s a reason he’s committed to North Carolina. He’s left-handed, he’s clutch, he’s strong, he’s fast and he’s good.

East subtracted record-setters Cobb Hightower and McCall Henderson from that devastating 2024 state title-winning lineup, as well as Logan Dyer, Nate Hayworth, Braden Shive and Joe Burleyson, but still went 25-6 and earned the No. 1 seed in the 3A West bracket for the playoffs. Coach Brett Hatley and his staff got good-to-great seasons from the four returning Mustangs besides Ailshie who had significant experience. Then they plugged the holes with new faces, went to work and competed on every at-bat.

This was arguably as good a coaching job as anyone ever has done in the county, but it shouldn’t be all that surprising. Hatley is 125-23 in six seasons as head coach, and that includes the aborted COVID season of 2020 and the half season of 2021. East has won at least 23 games in all of his full seasons. He is 13th on the county’s all-time wins list. This is his second Rowan County Coach of the Year nod.

Hatley shares the county award with West Rowan coach Seth Graham. Graham was voted the South Piedmont Conference Coach of the Year. He coached a deep, but young team that finished tied with East for first place in the SPC, despite two losses to East. The Falcons also added some significant postseason hardware by finally beating East and winning the SPC Tournament.

West was good enough this season that some guys probably will play more in college than they got to play for the Falcons. West finished the regular season No. 1 in the 3A West RPI rankings and had three exciting juniors — Cole Blevins, Maddox Moore and Carter Durant — named to the exclusive All-State team by the North Carolina Baseball Coaches Association. In an Ailshie-less year, any of those three would’ve made a fine choice for Rowan County Player of the Year.

With those three and a strong supporting cast, West was talented enough to win the state. There’s not much doubt about that, but the Falcons were handed the 11th seed — the playoff system has its flaws — had to hit the road in the second round, didn’t get the job done with men on base at AC Reynolds and called it a season at 24-5.

Graham, who has taken the reins as head coach for Rowan American Legion, has compiled a tremendous record in 11 seasons in Mount Ulla. His teams are 182-77, including the five-game 2020 season and the 2021 season that COVID reduced to 14 games. He is eighth on the all-time wins list for Rowan County. This is the fifth time he’s been recognized as Rowan Coach of the Year.

 

The All-Rowan County team:

West (7) — Start with the All-State guys. Durant, the second baseman, batted .476 with 42 RBIs. Blevins, an outfielder, batted .456 with 46 runs scored. Moore, another fast outfielder, batted .449, scored 45 runs and led the team with nine pitching wins.

Senior infielder Brice Knox and sophomore catcher Brody Pope didn’t make All-State, but they were All-Region, the next highest honor. Knox batted .429 with 25 RBIs and 16 steals. Pope batted .398 with 31 RBIs. West had scary offense.

Junior Brant Graham, 6-1 with a 1.52 ERA on the mound, a versatile fielder and steady hitter, was All-SPC. Senior Eli Graham, a .351-hitting infielder, was 3-0 on the mound with two saves and was All-SPC.

East (6) —Start with Harrison Ailshie, SPC Player of the Year.

East had four All-Region players. Catcher Krys Hernandez batted .419. Mason Phelps batted .396, drove in 30 and won four times on the mound. Phelps’ eight-inning relief outing against North Lincoln may have been the best individual effort all year. First baseman Hunter Goodman batted .319, drove in 21 and saved errors by digging throws out of the dirt. Freshman Brady Ailshie, Harrison’s brother, went 7-0 on the mound and is a future star.

It’s pretty hard to make All-SPC, as it’s a nine-team league, and none of the nine were helpless. Several teams got only one All-SPC player. East had four on All-SPC. One of those four was sophomore Zeke Stewart, usually the DH. He was an on-base machine after being elevated to the varsity during the season. His .526 OBP wasn’t far behind Harrison Ailshie’s, so he’s not a hard pick for All-Rowan County.

Carson (4) — The Cougars (15-10) had no players picked for All-State, but had four All-Region players.

Junior Kendal Sifford (9-3, 1.20 ERA) was the Pitcher of the Year for the SPC and for Rowan County.

Senior third baseman Corbin Hales batted a team-best .389 and knocked in 22 runs. The juniors who played the middle infield for the Cougars can swing as well as field. Shortstop Carson Kirk batted .354 with 25 runs scored. Second baseman Cameron Williamson batted .346 with 20 RBIs.

South (3) — Pfeiffer-bound senior Conner Coy was the catcher and leadoff man for the Raiders (13-12), a leader on offense and defense. He batted .390 with a .463 OBP. Coy and freshman third baseman Lucas Cox, who had numerous key hits, were South’s two All-SPC players.

Marshal Faw gets the nod as a third Raider for All-Rowan County. He was a talented two-way senior and was signed by Catawba College.

Salisbury (3) — Two-way seniors Evan Koontz, Hank Webb and Landon Tucker were All-Central Carolina Conference. They get the nod for the Hornets, who went 9-17.

North (1) — The Cavaliers managed to win five games — five more than many predicted — including a satisfying one on Senior Night against Salisbury. Coach Tim Everett had two All-CCC players. Rather than choosing between them, he nominated senior Anders Thompson to represent North on the All-Rowan County team.

“We had some guys with better stats,” Everett said. “But there was never any doubt Anders was our team leader. He’s a great kid and he poured his heart into North Rowan baseball.”