Cole Blevins (3) is congratulated by Luke Ponczka. Photo Credit: Sean Meyers

Staff report

Sunday’s game

Rowan mauled Anson County 11-1 in five innings at Newman Park to improve to 5-2.

It was close in the early going, but Rowan settled it with an eight-run fourth inning.

The key to the game was the top of the first inning when Anson loaded the bases with no outs, but failed to score. Rowan pitcher Brant Graham started a 1-2-3 double play on a comebacker and was able to escape the jam.

Graham got the win. He allowed a run in the third inning. Cole Blevins pitched the fourth, and Marshal Faw hurled the fifth.

Luke Ponczka’s three-run double to the wall in left-center was the key blow of the eight-run inning. Rowan quickly loaded the bases again, and Dylan Carter’s two-run single made it 8-1.

•••

Saturday’s game

SALISBURY — Rowan County pitcher Kendal Sifford pitched four innings of no-hit ball to highlight an easy 10-0, five-inning win against Liberty Post 81 at Newman Park.

Sifford hit two batters and walked  one.

Cole Hales pitched the fifth to finish off the abbreviated no-hitter.

Rowan scored four runs in the second, four more in the third, and added single runs in the fourth and fifth.

Luke Ponczka tripled, doubled and singled to spark Rowan’s offense. Cole Blevins had a two-run single and a sac fly for three RBIs. Cameron Williamson had a triple.

Williamson caught the game, the first night off for Gaige Scruggs behind the plate.

Drew Pegram had the hit in the fifth inning that provided a 10-run rule win.

•••

Friday’s game

SALISBURY — Rowan County finally got to play its first home game at Newman Park on Friday.

Things went well. Hot dogs and peanuts were sold, and Rowan beat Mocksville 11-1 in five innings.

Rowan owns two 10-run rule wins against Mocksville.

Rowan’s Chase Fisher may be the first pitcher ever to qualify for a save in an 11-1 game. But it happened.

Fisher also was at the plate for the walk-off walk that ended the game in the bottom of the fifth. Considering that he didn’t enter the game until the fourth inning, he had an eventful night.

Lefty Connor Park (1-1) got credit for the win. He pitched 3.2 innings. Mocksville went down in order in the first two, thanks to a diving catch by Marshal Faw in left field. In the third, Park ran into some difficulty, but Carter Durant and Eli Graham rolled a 4-6-3 DP that got him out of trouble.

Park exited the game with two Mocksville runners on base in the top of the fourth and with Rowan clinging to a 2-1 lead. That’s when Fisher relieved.

Rowan put together a six-run bottom of the fourth with three hits and some generous donations from Mocksville to take an 8-1 lead.

Fisher, a Pfeiffer University recruit from West Rowan, struck out two in a strong top of the fifth. Then Rowan scored three more in its half of the fifth to end it early.

Brice Knox and Eli Graham had early RBIs as Rowan went up 2-0 after three innings. James Spencer’s RBI double in the fourth cut Rowan’s lead to 2-1.

Rowan’s six-run bottom of the fourth was triggered by a Luke Ponczka HBP. After Brant Graham walked, Gaige Scruggs bunted, but Rowan got much more than a sacrifice when the throw to first went awry. That bunt probably was the key moment in the game, as Rowan had a 3-1 lead and runners at second and third after the smoke cleared.

Faw’s infield hit made it 4-1 before Cole Blevins hammered a two-run single to right to push the lead to 6-1. Durant sent a double whistling down the line for 7-1. Brant Graham walked with the bases full for 8-1.

The bottom of the fifth for Rowan included an RBI single by Ben Koontz and a sac fly by Corbin Hales prior to Fisher’s walk-off walk.

Nine Rowan players had RBIs. Blevins and Faw had two hits.

Mike Lovelace has returned to coach Mocksville. He had a strong run with the program from 1999-2009 and had 178 wins.