Area Sports Briefs: Fast times for Julian

Published 2:55 am Monday, June 5, 2023

 

From staff reports

South Rowan rising senior Eli Julian closed his  track season with outstanding times in the Music City Track Carnival in Nashville, Tenn.

Julian ran 9:20 in the 3200, tying his PR. He established a  new PR by almost five seconds in the 1600 with a 4:23.19 clocking.

Minor leagues

Owen White (Carson) is 1-3 in 10 starts for the Double A Frisco RoughRiders.

He’s struck out 39 with 20 walks in 46 1/3 innings.

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St. Louis Cardinals prospect Austin Love (West Rowan) has been on the injured list most of the season.

College softball

  Pfeiffer junior pitcher Kali Morton (21-3, 1.08 ERA) was named a third team Division III All-America.

The Mooresville High graduate was the pitcher for Rowan County’s first Little League World Series title in 2015.

College baseball

North Carolina Wesleyan’s Payne Stolsworth (West Rowan) has been named an All-American.

The Region 6 Pitcher of the Year, Stolsworth was 12-0 with a 1.96 ERA and struck out 100 batters in 101 innings.

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East Carolina ended the season with an 8-3 loss to Virginia on Sunday in the Charlottesville Regional.

Freshman Nathan Chrismon (South Rowan) played in 41 games for the Pirates (46-18).

He made only one error and was 8-for-8 on steal attempts.

Jake Hunter (East Rowan) pitched 40 2/3 innings for the  ECU Pirates. He had a 4-2 record with 50 strikeouts and 13 walks.

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UNC’s baseball season ended with a 6-5 regional  loss to Iowa in 13 innings on Sunday.

Cameron Padgett (East Rowan) pitched in 20 games for the Tar Heels as a freshman and had a 2-1 record.

UNC missed Vance Honeycutt (Salisbury) in the ACC Tournament and the regional.

Honeycutt was sidelined by a lower back injury.

The center fielder was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year but didn’t play after May 13. He had made 114 straight starts for the Tar Heels before the injury.

Honeycutt has 37 homers, 100 RBIs and 48 steals in two seasons. He projects as one of the early picks in the 2024 MLB draft.

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Charlie Klingler (East Rowan) batted .240 with three homers and 18 RBIs for High Point.

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Bo Rusher (Salisbury) hit four homers for Gardner-Webb this season and has 10 in his college career.

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Liberty freshman Kane Kepley (South Rowan) scored 44 runs and batted .310 and made the All-Freshman team for the Atlantic Sun Conference.

MLB draft

The 2023 draft will be conducted in Seattle on July 9-11.

The list of draft eligibles includes graduating high school seniors and junior college players as well as eligible players (usually juniors and seniors) from the four-year colleges.

East Rowan right-hander Chance Mako and South Rowan lefty Haiden Leffew are prospects who are expected to be drafted.

College track & field

High jumper Devin Keene (South Rowan) and   runner Andrew “AJ” Huffman (Salisbury) will continue their careers and education at Pfeiffer University.

College golf

Local golfer Michael Childress finished his career at Richmond with a stroke average of 74.18 to rank seventh in program history.

He had four top-10 finishes to go along with numerous academic  accolades.

Catawba athletics

Matthew Mauldin (North Rowan) has been named Director of Sports Performance at Catawba College.

Mauldin had been serving as  Associate Director of Sports Performance at Wingate.

Mauldin also had stints working for the strength and conditioning programs of Texas State, Georgia State, Appalachian State and Wake Forest.

HS softball

Former East Rowan athlete Rebecca Cooper was named as a  coach for South Carolina’s North/South All-Star Game.

Cooper coached her Broome High team to a state title in 2022.

Local golf

Daniel Plummer made a hole-in-one at McCanless on Saturday.

Plummer used a 7-iron to ace the 186-yard No. 6 hole during the second round of play in the  Grady B. McCanless Four-Ball Championship.

Plummer was playing with Adam Smith and playing against Cameron Prugh and Frank Shepherd, all witnesses to the shot.

Needless to say, Plummer and Smith won the hole.

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Branson Hurst, co-owner of The Fish Bowl in Salisbury, made a hole-in-one on No. 14 at the Country Club of Salisbury.

He was playing with Ryan Burke and Brian Kennerly,

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The McCanless Couples played on Sunday.

David  & Azalee Huneycutt  and Bev & Ty Cobb took first place in a Captain’s Choice event.

Lenny Maseuli, Larry Harwood, Allen Terry  and Sheryl Johnson  placed second.

Maseuli  had closest to the pin. Bev Cobb had longest putt