By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

LILLINGTON — Lose that first game in any double-elimination tournament and it becomes a hard, nearly impossible road.

But the Rowan County American Legion baseball team has rebounded strongly from an opening-day defeat and is one of three teams still alive as the five-day state tournament grinds on to its conclusion at Jim Perry Stadium at Campbell University.

Rowan County beat Fuquay-Varina 7-3 on Friday night, handing Post 116 its first setback in the tournament after three impressive victories.

Despite the loss to Rowan, as the winner of Thursday’s winner’s bracket final, Fuquay-Varina remains in the driver’s seat to emerge as the champion.

On Saturday at noon, Rowan County (40-6) will play Wayne County, the team that beat Rowan in Tuesday’s first round. The survivor of the Rowan-Wayne matchup will then take on a rested Fuquay-Varina team for the state title around 3 p.m.

So it’s still a very tall order for Rowan, but Post 342 has at least given itself a chance for a memorable finish.

Fuquay-Varina (26-4) has won one state championship, while Wayne County (33-7) has never won one. Rowan owns won nine state titles, but history won’t be as important for Rowan on Saturday as clutch hitting, throwing strikes and getting some good bounces.

There was no shortage of drama on Friday, as Rowan weathered a major momentum swing. Rowan was flirting with the 10-run rule in the bottom of the fifth (a 5-0 lead, bases loaded, one out), but was fighting for its life about 10 minutes later. Fuquay-Varina made a serious run at a massive comeback in the top of the sixth, when it scored all three of its runs.

Rowan ace Hayden Simmerson (8-1) was cooking and had his velocity back after wilting some in the extreme heat on Tuesday. Simmerson got a strikeout with the bases loaded to get through the first inning, and Cole Johnson and JT Taylor turned a sweet double play up the middle on a hard-hit ball with runners on the corners in the fourth.

Simmerson kept Fuquay-Varina scoreless the first five innings.

Fuquay-Varina pitcher Henry Good kept Rowan sluggers off-balance and matched zeroes with Simmerson until a wild bottom of the fourth that began with a Morgan Padgett single. Simmerson also singled, but he was thrown out trying to get to second. Padgett made it to third base.

Aiden Schenck’s base hit through the right side gave Rowan a 1-0 lead. Blake Hill was hit by a pitch — that’s become his specialty — and Cole Johnson reached on catcher’s interference to load the bases. Elijah Palmer’s sac fly made it 2-0, and a passed ball made it 3-0. Rowan made it 5-0 when JT Taylor fisted a huge, two-run single over the infield.

When Good walked the first two Rowan batters in the fifth, the opportunity appeared to be there to land a knockout punch, but reliever Chase Arrington brought some heat from the Fuquay-Varina bullpen. He got a strikeout, issued a free pass to lead the bases, and then got two more strikeouts to keep it 5-0 and keep Post 116 in the game.

Things got dicey in a hurry for Rowan in the top of the sixth as Simmerson closed in on the rule-book limit of 105 pitches.

The Fuquay-Varina sixth began with a double and a walk. Simmerson recorded his eighth strikeout for the first out of the inning, but then he gave up a run-scoring single before the last man he could legally throw to was hit by a pitch.

Reliever Joe Burleyson wasn’t able to bail Simmerson out. He allowed the two-run single that sliced Rowan’s lead to 5-3, and then he walked a batter.

Alex Hagler entered the game in relief at that point and saved the night. Hagler got the second out of the sixth on a short fly ball and the third out on a groundball.

Batting in the bottom of the sixth, Rowan desperately needed to add runs to rebuild its cushion — and did so. Rowan tacked on two runs with two HBPs and three walks. Simmerson, who had remained in the game in left field, and Hill drew walks with the bases full to earn the RBIs.

Fuquay-Varina got one hit in the seventh, its eighth of the game, but Hagler was able to notch the save.

Padgett went 2-for-2 and reached base in all four of his plate appearances. Hill had a double on his only official at-bat and also reached base four straight times. Cameron Burleyson did a good job of getting on base out of the No. 9 spot in the lineup and scored two runs.

Who pitches for Rowan today? Rowan probably will start with lefty Mikey Beasley.