Staff report
HAMLET – Cole Blevins hit an early grand slam to back strong pitching by Brant Graham and Dylan Alexander, as Rowan County swept a tough series with Hamlet on Sunday night.
Rowan took a 6-3 decision in regulation on Sunday after surviving 6-5 in 10 innings by making three separate comebacks at home in Saturday’s series opener. This was a best-of-three series, so Rowan advances to the best-of-five semifinals in what should be an exciting series with High Point. Rowan will host the opening game with the strong Post 87 squad on Tuesday.
The semifinal series is the key one, as it determines the two state tournament qualifiers. The semifinal winners will stage a single game to determine the Area 3 championship. That will be for seeding in the state tournament, bragging rights and a trophy.
Hamlet (7-9) put up another good fight on Sunday. Caden Nolan, who also homered on Saturday, socked a two-run homer off Graham in the bottom of the first at Hamlet Memorial Park to give the 49ers a 2-1 lead. Blevins had scored on a wild pitch for a Rowan run in the top of the first.
The bottom of the Rowan lineup – Drew Pegram, Cameron Williamson and Gaige Scruggs – all got on base in the top of the second to turn the lineup over and get Blevins to the plate in a spot do some damage. The UNCW recruit didn’t disappoint. Blevins launched the first pitch from Nolan out of the park for his fourth homer of the season, staking Graham to a 5-2 lead.
Hamlet scored with the help of an error in the fourth. Rowan got that run back in the fifth when Jayven Parks came home on Luke Ponczka’s groundout. Graham took a 6-3 lead to the bottom of the sixth.
Graham only struck out two, but most of his 77 pitches were effective. He got the first two outs in the sixth. Alexander relieved and got the third one, registering a strikeout to strand a runner at third base.
Alexander allowed one hit in the seventh, but he struck out Nolan to end the game and the series.
Rowan County 140 010 0 – 6
Hamlet 201 000 0 – 3
W – Graham (5-1), L – Nolan. S – Alexander (2).
HR – Hamlet: Nolan. Rowan: Blevins (4).
hamlet memorial park 49ers
