Staff report

West Rowan hosts Gastonia Forestview in a third-round 3A state playoff game on Tuesday.

The Falcons are in the third round for the first time since 2004 when they were state runner-up.

First pitch is set for 7 p.m.

Forestview (17-9) is 8-5 in road games.

The 20th-seeded Jaguars are a pitching-and-defense team — like the Falcons. Forestview has hit only three homers and is batting .264 as a team, but it has 53 stolen bases.

Forestview has a team ERA of 2.31.

The player to watch for Forestview is Moe Neal, the conference player of the year in football as a running back. He has 25 steals.

Neal, Lander Maness and Mason Fox are the top run-producers for the Jaguars.

Forestview has used four pitchers quite a bit. Garrett Sutton (4-1), a 6-foot-2 right-hander,  signed with Winthrop.

Forestview rallied in the seventh inning in the first round to beat Southwestern Randolph 5-4 and beat Asheville A.C. Reynolds 2-0 in the second round.

Under new coach Seth Graham, West Rowan (19-6) is shooting for only the fourth  20-win season in school history and the first since 2004.

The fourth-seeded Falcons have won 11 of their last 12 games.

West Rowan is 10-2 at home.

The Falcons are only batting .256 as  a team, but they’ve compensated with  a team ERA of 2.01.

Top hitters for West Rowan include Juan Garcia (.324, 17 RBIs) and Harrison Baucom (.353, 22 runs).

Shortstop Jeremy Simpson anchors the defense.

Omar Bautista is the probable starting pitcher. Bautista is 8-1 with a 1.51 ERA. He’s struck out 58 while walking only nine.

West Rowan reached the third round by beating Hickory 9-1 behind Bautista and rallying to beat Patton 4-3 on the strength of strong relief pitching by Austin Love and clutch hits by  Garcia and Kacey Otto.