Rowan pitcher Brant Graham. Curt Fowler photo.

By Mike London

 

Salisbury Post

KANNAPOLIS — When your ERA is 0.41, it’s not easy to lower it, but Rowan County American Legion pitcher Brant Graham stood at 0.29 after shutting down Concord on Wednesday.

One earned run in 24 innings.

Graham, a 17-year-old right-hander, went the distance at A.L. Brown’s field, allowing only two singles to Post 51, as Rowan rolled 8-0 and avenged a disappointing Tuesday loss at Concord at Newman Park. Graham didn’t walk a batter, while striking out six.

“Brant was good,” said Rowan head coach Seth Graham, who is no relation.

That was understating things, sort of like saying that Aaron Judge is large.

Graham sailed through the first six innings on 54 pitches before getting into some deeper counts in the seventh. Still, he finished with the 73-pitch complete game. He threw 56 strikes.

Graham is 3-0, but has pitched well enough to be 5-0. He came out of two games with leads after three innings, one inning shy of the requirement for a starter to qualify for the win.

Making Graham’s effort on Wednesday night even is more impressive is that he is a three-sport athlete who shined at West Rowan’s football workout earlier in the day on Wednesday. He’s getting ready for his third season as the starting QB for the Falcons, and he’s been a key player for the varsity basketball team since he was a freshman.

While Graham made short work of Concord hitters, Rowan’s swingers also redeemed themselves for some offensive futility on Tuesday. On Tuesday, they pulled routine ground balls. Twenty-four hours later, they stroked line drives to all fields. Rowan’s 12-hit attack included some infield hits, but quite a few balls were well-struck.

“It was a good turnaround game for us,” Coach Graham said.

Cole Blevins, Luke Ponczka, Eli Graham and Drew Pegram had two hits each.

Gaige Scruggs and Blevins had RBIs as Rowan took a 2-0 lead in the second.

Blevins scored when Carter Durant hit into a double play in the fifth to make it 3-0.

Concord pitcher Connor Griffin kept his team in the game for five innings, but Rowan put the game away with a five-run sixth against the bullpen and with the aid of a reversed call at first base.

Eli Graham got a run home with a bunt single, Blevins had a sharp two-run single, and Durant hit a sac fly. A wild pitch scored the other run.

Blevins boosted his team-leading RBI total to 22. Durant has 20.

Jase Kotwicki and Paul Coubal had the Concord knocks.

Rowan (15-5, 6-2) still has four division games left, two with Kannapolis and two with Mooresville. Kannapolis visits Newman Park on Friday.