Staff report
SALISBURY — Rowan County’s American Legion baseball team showed some resiliency on Saturday at Newman Park and bounced back from Friday’s devastating loss on the road.
Rowan let a three-run, seventh inning lead slip away on Friday, but put together a five-run third inning against Liberty on Saturday to key a 7-2 victory.
A loss on Saturday would have eliminated Rowan from the playoffs, but Rowan took the best-of-three Area III quarterfinal series two games to one.
Eli Graham (2-0) was the winning pitcher. He was able to get the game into the fifth inning. Corbin Hales relieved and got five outs. Carter Durant was able to finish up, with the help of a Liberty base-running mistake that enabled Rowan to record the final out.
Cole Blevins beat out an infield hit to start Rowan’s decisive bottom of the third. Marshal Faw singled, and Blevins was able to score the game’s first run when the ball got by an outfielder. Durant’s single plated Faw for a 2-0 lead.
Brice Knox was hit by a pitch, and Luke Ponczka singled to load the bases. Walks to Drew Pegram and Cam Williamson tacked on two more runs. Hales had a run-scoring to make it 5-0, but Rowan had a runner thrown out at the plate for the first out of the inning, left the bases loaded, and settled for five.
Rowan added a run in the fifth on Faw’s sac fly and got another one in the sixth when Pegram produced a run-scoring single.
Liberty finished 10-14. Rowan improved to 23-6.
Rowan left 10 men on base.
Pegram, who was 1-for-1 with three walks, drove in two runs. Knox scored two. Knox and Faw had doubles.
