Staff report

Cole Hales needed only 83 pitches to throw a complete game on Saturday, and the undefeated hurler kept Carson alive in the Junior Legion state tournament in Swansboro.
Carson won 5-2 in an elimination game against the Cary Colts.
“Cole was very efficient and hit his spots,” Carson manager Chris Cauble said. “Just a heck of a job.”
Hales, a small right-hander with great command of his pitches, is 10-0 this summer. He struck out two and allowed four hits.
Carson (29-8) didn’t play well on Friday in a 6-3 loss to Swansboro in the first round, managing only two hits.
“We didn’t look like the team that we’ve been all year,” Cauble said. “Part of it was sitting around for two hours in a rain delay. Mentally, I think our guys thought we weren’t going to play, and they weren’t ready when we did play.”
Carson had to deal with a long rain delay again on Saturday. Scheduled to play at 12:30 p.m., they got started around 6 p.m.
“We got refocused and we handled the delay a lot better,” Cauble said. “The guys who work on the field here are doing an amazing job to get these games in. This time we realized that sooner or later we were going to play, and we were ready.”
Carson scored single runs in the second and third innings to stake Hales to a 2-0 lead.
Cary got two runs in the top of the fifth to tie, but Luke Barringer came through with the biggest hit of the game, a two-run double in the bottom of the fifth that put Carson in front to stay.
Carson had nine hits, including two each by Karson Beacham, Brycen Holshouser and Chase Earnhardt.
Holshouser, Earnhardt and Garrett Alewine drove in runs.
Only two games of the four scheduled game were played on Saturday because of the weather, and the schedule has been revised for today.
Carson expects to play at 12:30 p.m. in another elimination game.
Brycen Holshouser or Maddux Holshouser will be the starting pitcher.

Cary 000 020 0 — 2 4 1
Carson 011 021 x — 5 9 1
W — Cole Hales (10-0).
Leading hitters — Carson: Karson Beacham 2 hits, Brycen Holshouser 2 hits, Chase Earnhardt 2 hits, Luke Barringer 2 RBIs.