By Mike London
Salisbury Post
MOUNT ULLA — West Rowan senior Brant Graham, a Catawba recruit, is one of those pitchers who doesn’t make hitters fear for their lives.
He doesn’t make them feel uncomfortable at the plate. He doesn’t strike out a ton of people. Hitters usually feel like they had decent swings against Graham and they often make decent contact. But at the end of the night when they look at the boxscore they went 0-for-3.
Considering the opponent, Graham (5-0) pitched his strongest game of the season so far on Thursday, as the Falcons bounced back from Tuesday’s ulcer-inducing loss at Staton Field to beat East 6-0 and stay in the South Piedmont Conference race.
The updated standings: East 7-1, South Rowan 7-1, West 6-2, Carson 6-2. West is in better shape than it looks like because the Falcons already have split with South and East and have swept Carson. The East-South, East-Carson and South-Carson series are still in the future.
Graham allowed five singles and two walks and lowered an ERA that is under 1.00.
Graham, a tall right-hander, has been quietly retiring hitters for four varsity seasons, and he’s doing it better than ever as a senior although he says he really hasn’t changed anything. He’s always been a strike-thrower. A lot of his innings require only six or seven pitches.
“The plan is always the same — trust my defense and let them do most of the work,” Graham said. “I just kind of do what I do. Pitch ahead in the count. Don’t walk ’em. And this was a night when I was locating.”
Graham has a good defense, featuring quick outfielders and a rocket-armed catcher, and a potent offense to support him. The Falcons (12-4) didn’t crush the ball against East starting pitcher Brady Ailshie, but they took advantage of every opportunity to score runs.
The top of the third, when the game was still scoreless, was the key inning for Graham, as East (12-3) had two singles and two walks in that inning but failed to score.
Isaiah Osterhus opened the inning with a single, but then Graham got a ground ball and shortstop Cody Ludwick started a double play. No. 9 hitter Holden Frick followed with another single and Zeke Stewart drew a walk to get Easts masher Harrison Ailshie to the plate with two outs. Ailshie is batting almost .600, so there was no chance at all he’d get to swing.
West coach Seth Graham ordered an intentional pass to Ailshie to fill the bases, and the inning came down to Graham against Logan Bradley.
“I went right after him, made a good pitch and he popped it high to center field,” Graham said.
Momentum swung when Graham got out of that inning, and the Falcons scored three runs in the bottom of the third. Carter Lefebvre walked to start it, and 9 hitter Preston Javidi lifted a flyball near the right field line that looked like an out when it left the bat, but when it fell safely, Javidi had a double, and the Falcons had men at second and third with no outs and the top of a tough lineup coming up.
Maddox Moore’s sac fly made it 1-0. Cole Blevins walked and Javidi scored when Blevins stole second and drew an errant throw. Carter Durant’s RBI single plated the third run of the inning.
Graham set the Mustangs down 1-2-3 in the fourth and fifth.
Ludwick singled home Durant for a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth.
Harrison Ailshie drilled a one-out single in the East sixth but was left stranded.
UNC Wilmington recruit Blevins smashed a ground-rule double to score Moore in the bottom of the inning, and Blevins charged home on a wild pitch to make it 6-0.
East got singles in the seventh from Osterhus and Braylen Ketchie, but they came with two outs and Graham calmly got a ground ball for the final out of the night before things became overly exciting.
Harrison Ailshie hit a wicked lineout in the first inning (Moore snagged it diving in center field), but most of East’s 21 outs were routine. Graham got eight on the ground and four with strikeouts.
Julian Cauble and Ketchie followed Brady Ailshie to the bump for East.
Osterhus had a good game, as he had two hits and made a diving play at second base for the third out in the second inning.
“It was a big game, but we didn’t need any pregame pep talks,” Graham said. “We all knew how much we needed it. We competed on every pitch.”
East 000 000 0 -0
West 003 012 x -6
W- Graham (5-0). L – B. Ailshie (4-2).
