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E-mail to a friend | By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
CONCORD ? Concord entered Thursday?s Southern Division of Area III contest in ninth place but exited it with a surprising 7-4 win against Rowan County.
Despite the difference in records and reputation, Concord (2-9, 2-4) led all the way at Central Cabarrus High.
?As long as we have Rowan on our chests, we?re going to get everyone?s best shot,? veteran center fielder Will Sapp said. ?That?s something all our young guys need to realize. It?s not like we can just walk out and expect to win. We have to play hard.?
While Rowan was 25-10 in 2011, it still had its hands full with Concord, scoring twice in the ninth to win 7-5 on the road, and rallying for a 10-7 verdict at Newman Park.
Rowan (6-5, 5-3) dropped its third straight, as Concord, which has lost a half-dozen tight contests this season, finally put it all together.
?It felt really good to be on the other side of it,? Concord coach Jaymie Russ said. ?The big difference was defensively. We took care of the baseball, and that?s where we?ve been hurting ourselves.?
Concord starting pitcher Ryan Cliff, a lefty who is on the staff at Limestone, whiffed nine Rowan hitters and got Sapp three times.
?He was throwing good, but we were also swinging at pitches out of the strike zone,? Sapp said. ?That allowed him to get deeper in the game than he should have.?
Despite seven walks, Cliff made it into the sixth, and Concord?s bullpen did the rest.
Concord?s three-run first against Rowan starter Ethan Free set the tone. Brandon Porter doubled a home a run, Dalen Helm?s bouncer got one in, and Josh Chapman delivered a two-out RBI single.
?Free didn?t miss any bats early, and they got three quick ones,? Rowan coach Jim Gantt said. ?After that, Free settled in pretty well.?
The key moment came in the top of the sixth. Rowan trailed 4-1, but Cliff?s pitch-count was soaring, and Rowan was in business after Bryson Prugh and Avery Rogers rapped singles and Chase Hathcock walked.
After Ashton Fleming also walked, it was 4-2, the bases were still loaded, and Russ called on Chet Currie for relief. Sapp was thrilled to see a new pitcher, and he lifted a flyball high and deep down the right-field line.
Sapp?s drive fell in and Rogers scored, but the baserunners read the ball and the right fielder from different angles. Fleming, the runner at first, was sprinting, but Hathcock, starting from second, had returned to the bag to tag up. A traffic jam on the bases resulted, and Hathcock was out by a lot at the plate.
?That play just took the air out of us,? Gantt said.
It could?ve been 4-4 with runners at second and third. Instead, Concord still led 4-3, and it stayed that way when Currie fanned Jared Mathis.
When Brandon Porter homered in the seventh, Concord had recaptured all the momentum it had lost.
?When Rowan?s coming back, they?re like sharks in the water, smelling blood,? Russ said. ?But we held them off.?
Blake Sides, the Hickory Ridge pitcher who ended East Rowan?s season, closed it out.
Rowan got one run in the ninth, but Sides got Rogers to pop up to end the game.
?I was throwing fastballs and tried to keep them inside,? Sides said. ?It was a really big win for us.?
Errors have been killing us, but tonight we didn?t make them.?
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