By Mike London
Salisbury Post
CHINA GROVE — Carson senior Kendal Sifford has a problem that 99 percent of the world would like to have.
He has a difficult time gaining and maintaining weight. He burns calories like he’s a human furnace. The right-handed pitcher weighs a respectable 180 pounds, but that 180 looks light when it’s stretched across a 6-foot-3 frame.
“I’m making myself pick up a fork more often,” Sifford said with a laugh. “I’ve actually gained five pounds since our American Legion baseball season ended. I’m eating a lot of meals. I can see changes.”
Sifford, who will pitch for Carson in the area high school fall league, committed recently to Catawba College’s stout baseball program. He’s the fourth member of the 2025 Rowan Legion squad to do so. South Rowan 2025 grad Marshal Faw is already on the Catawba campus. Sifford and West Rowan’s Brant Graham and Carter Durant will join the Indians in the fall of 2026.
That’s right, Sifford still has a high school season and an American Legion season left. He was the breakout star for Rowan County high school baseball, earning 2025 South Piedmont Conference and Rowan County Pitcher of the Year accolades after a 9-3 season and a 1.20 ERA.
He did that after going 2-2 as basically an average varsity pitcher as a sophomore.
“Kendal had one of those special years in 2025, and his awards can be traced directly to the work he put in during the off-season between his sophomore and junior years,” Carson head coach J.C. Alexander said. “He got more mature. He got stronger. He was a different pitcher. He pitched six complete games.”
Owen White, who has logged innings in MLB for the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers, is the only other Carson hurler to sweep those awards.
Carson pitching coach Jesse Park taught Sifford a slider. That addition to his four-pitch arsenal helped him put together a phenomenal high school season. Carson started 1-4, but then Sifford started winning every Tuesday. One of those wins was against East Rowan at Staton Field. Sifford energized his teammates. Carson finished very strong at 15-10.
“It was awesome watching Kendal’s confidence grow with each start to the point that our team knew it was going to win when he walked out to the mound,” Alexander said.
Sifford is a competitor and proved that during Rowan’s County Legion season, where the best programs are still a step up from high school baseball. Sifford went 8-3.
“My best game definitely was the game I pitched at High Point in the playoffs,” Sifford said. “That was the second game of the series that decided a state playoff berth.”
Rowan hitters were shut down for a long time, but Sifford kept putting up zeroes. It was 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh when High Point had the winning run at second base with one out. But Sifford pitched out of trouble — the third out was on a strikeout — and Rowan County came to life offensively and won the game in the eighth inning.
Catawba coaches got more interested every time Sifford pitched this summer. He threw strikes, kept his pitch counts low, and Legion head coach Seth Graham knew he could count on him for six or seven quality innings.
The pitching coach for the Legion as well as the newly hired pitching coach at Catawba is Cole Hales, who was a Rowan Pitcher of the Year during his high school days at Carson. Sifford knows the Hales family well. Corbin Hales, Cole’s younger brother, was Sifford’s teammate in the spring and summer. Rob Hales, Cole’s father, was Sifford’s jayvee coach at Carson.
Sifford can throw in the mid-80s now. He no doubt will gain more mph as he gets older, bigger and stronger.
“Cole Hales and I talked right after the Legion season about me committing to Catawba, and I was excited about the baseball program and the school,” Sifford said. “I’ve come a long a way in the past year, and I know I can still keep getting better. I loved pitching at Newman Park this summer. There’s no doubt in my mind that the Catawba coaches can make me a better player and a better person.”
Sifford’s grandfather, Claude Morris “CM” Yates, was a football and baseball star at East Rowan from 1968-71. Yates played football at Catawba.
Sifford plans a business major.
