From staff reports

HUNTERSVILLE — East Rowan opened South Piedmont Conference play by walloping Lake Norman Charter 20-5.

Chance Mako  benefited from the offensive onslaught. He pitched five innings for the win. He struck out nine, allowing two runs and three hits.

East (4-2) pounded out 16 hits, with Blake Hill, Cobb Hightower and Morgan Padgett launching homers.

Nate Hayworth had two hits and three steals.

It was a decent game until the late innings. East scored eight runs in the sixth inning and six in the seventh.

East is home against Marvin Ridge on Wednesday for a non-conference game.

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CONCORD – West Rowan won 9-5 in a tough South Piedmont Conference opener, beating previously unbeaten Northwest Cabarrus on the road.

West led 6-5 going to the final inning, but got some breathing room with a three-run seventh.

West got three hits and two RBIs from Luke Graham, two hits and two RBIs from Zach McNeely and two RBIs from Brice Knox.

Northwest led 3-2 after three innings, but West (3-2, 1-0) went ahead to stay with a three-run fourth. Graham and Knox had the key hits.

Corbin Bailey pitched the first two innings. Alex O’Rourke pitched the middle three innings for the win.

Drew Burton allowed a walk-off grand slam on Saturday, but put that behind him and was great in the sixth and seventh. He struck out three and qualified for a save.

Blake Gaffney hit a two-run homer in the first inning for Northwest (4-1, 0-1).

The teams will play at West on Friday. West Rowan hosts West Cabarrus in a non-conference game on Wednesday.

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CONCORD — Carson breezed to a 12-0 win at Concord to start South Piedmont Conference play.

Hayden Simmerson got the win with four dominant innings. The Catawba signee struck out 10 and allowed one hit.

Gage Trexler finished up the five-inning game on the mound.

Carson (3-3, 1-0) scored four runs in the first inning  and led 10-0 after a four-run third.

Simmerson and Jacob Efird homered to lead a 13-hit attack. Keegan Barger had a triple. Austin Efird, Will Bradshaw and Connor Rayfield had doubles.

Barger, Bradshaw and Cody Russell had two hits each.

Concord (1-4, 0-1) had three hits.

The Cougars will host the Spiders on Friday.

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CONCORD — South Rowan suffered a freaky loss for the second straight night.

At Piedmont on Monday, South went into extra innings, scored four in the top of the ninth, and then allowed five in the bottom half of the inning.

South was in charge for six innings at Central Cabarrus on Tuesday in the South Piedmont Conference opener for both teams.

South had Wake Forest signee Haiden Leffew on the mound, and he dominated. The lefty struck out 14 in six innings, while allowing three hits and three walks.

Leffew had a run-scoring double as South took a 2-0 lead in the third.

South made it 3-0 in the fifth with Aaron Jones socking a triple and scoring on Marshal Faw’s double.

South (1-5, 0-1) plated two insurance runs in the top of the seventh, taking advantage of Central miscues.

With a 5-0 lead and with Leffew at 94 pitches, South turned to the bullpen to finish it.

It didn’t work out.

The first Vikings (2-1, 1-0) reached in the bottom of the seventh, with a single, two walks and two hit batsmen. That made it 5-2.

Raeder McIntyre’s two-run double cut South’s lead to 5-4. Coleman Williams’ two-run double gave the Vikings an improbable walk-off win.

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DENTON — North Rowan put up a fight and staged a sensational comeback, but South Davidson won 9-8 in Central Carolina Conference baseball on Tuesday.

The victory gave the Wildcats (3-2, 2-0) a season sweep of the Cavaliers.

North Rowan starting pitcher Trey Johnson walked eight and was knocked out in the fourth. At that point, South Davidson led 9-1.

The Cavaliers scratched out two runs in the fifth to get back to 9-3.

Then North had a four-run sixth that included a two-run homer by Malakie Harris to make it 9-7.

North got the first two men on base to start the seventh, but South Davidson turned a double play and was able to hold the Cavaliers to one run in the inning.

North had eight hits. Harris and Carter Boydston had three hits each.

Boydston and Brayden Mahaley pitched well in relief and gave North a chance to rally.

North was charged with eight errors, while South Davidson made nine.

Tyler Coble struck out seven and was the winning pitcher.

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THOMASVILLE — Salisbury lost a wild 9-8 game to Thomasville on Monday and dropped a wilder 12-11 Central Carolina Confernce game to the Bulldogs on Tuesday.

In the rematch, Thomasville banged out 18 hits to seven for the Hornets.

Landon Tucker started on the mound for the Hornets. Thomasville led 8-1 after three innings.

The Hornets had a four-run fourth to get back in the game at 8-5. Aiden Mowery’s two-run single was the key blow of the inning.

Evan Koontz took the mound for Salisbury in the bottom of the fourth.

The Hornets trailed 9-5 going to the sixth, but added three more runs. Mike Geter had a two-run triple.

Thomasville led 10-8 going to the seventh.

Salisbury (0-6, 0-2) scratched out three in the seventh to lead 11-10, but the Bulldogs (4-2, 2-0) kept swinging the bats and won the game in the bottom of the inning with a walk-off single.

Mowery had a sac fly and a bases-loaded walk in addition to his two-run single and had four RBIs. Geter and Tucker had two hits each.

Macari House, Hank Webb and Christian Rosado scored two runs each.

Travail Barnes, Mykel Duncan and Matthew Bankhead had four hits each for the Bulldogs.