National anthem. Photo by Curt Fowler.

From staff reports

Sunday’s game

SALISBURY — Rowan County’s American Legion baseball team scored four runs in the first inning in an afternoon contest at Newman Park and won 5-0 against Morgantown, W. Va.

Cole Blevins and Marshal Faw got on base in front of Carter Durant’s two-run double in that first-inning outburst. Rowan took advantage of an error for a run, and Brice Knox added a run-scoring single.

Blevins and Durant have 19 RBIs each. Together, they’ve combined for 40 percent of Rowan’s RBIs.

Rowan’s offense was silent after that until Cameron Williamson got a two-out hit in the sixth and made a tour of the bases on wild pitches and passed balls.

Rowan (14-4) was good on the mound, which has been the case most of the summer, with four pitchers combining on the shutout.

Starting pitcher Brant Graham faced only 10 batters and didn’t allow a hit for three innings. Graham has allowed only one earned run in 17 innings.

Connor Park (3-1) worked the fourth and fifth and allowed one soft hit. Luke Ponczka and Durant finished up with an inning apiece to complete the shutout.

Rowan has won eight in a row and is ranked fifth in the state by Don Hines, who follows Legion baseball closely.

Rowan is back in action on Tuesday at Newman Park against Concord. Rowan and Mooresville are tied for first in a four-team division with 5-1 records.

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Saturday’s game

SALISBURY — Faw is right-handed, but his left shoulder is 2-0.

Faw was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the seventh to decide a 3-2 victory against the St. Mary’s County Maryland Gold team, the stronger of the two St. Mary’s squads that visited Newman Park. The bases were loaded when Faw accepted the plunking, and Cole Ludwick trotted home from third with the winning run.

Faw’s HBP had decided a game with Randolph County earlier in the summer.

Faw is also Rowan’s leading hitter as far as batting average with a .514 mark. He went 2-for-2  in a game in which Rowan mustered only five hits.

Faw and Durant had RBIs in the first inning. That was all the offense for Rowan until the seventh.

Starting pitcher Eli Graham made it into the fourth, exiting with the game tied at 2-all. Chase Fisher (1-0) relieved Graham and was in charge the rest of the way. The Pfeiffer recruit registered some 88 mph fastballs and whiffed five.

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Friday’s game

SALISBURY — Slugging lead-off batter Blevins and starting pitcher Kendal Sifford sparked Rowan County to a 7-2 American Legion baseball victory at Newman Park

Rowan beat the “Blue” team from St. Mary’s County in Maryland.

Blevins accounted for most of Rowan’s offense with a triple, double, single and sac fly. His two-run double in the fourth pushed a 2-0 Rowan lead to 4-0.

No. 9 batter Eli Graham was 1-for-1 with two walks, two steals and two runs.

Faw had a run-scoring single in the first inning.

Rowan had only seven hits, three by Blevins, but St. Mary’s helped out with five errors.

Sifford (4-1) shut down St. Mary’s (3-3) for four innings, allowing two hits and no walks and striking out three.

Faw earned a three-inning save. Faw put up zeroes in the fifth and sixth, but the visitors scored two runs after two men were out in the seventh.

Defensively, Rowan turned two double plays to help off-set three errors.