By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

GRANITE QUARRY — In the summer of 1949, Emil Sparger, the pride of Spencer, manned shortstop for the Salisbury Pirates, the Class D minor league team that played home games at Newman Park.

In the summer of 2024, 75 years later, Emil’s great-grandson, Logan Dyer, may be playing shortstop at Newman Park for the Rowan County American Legion team.

Baseball is a family game, with love of the game and aptitude to play the game frequently handed down from one generation to the next.

Emil Sparger was quite a ballplayer.

So were Emil’s sons, Kelly, who played third base for the Rowan County American Legion team that won the 1969 state championship, and Phip, who caught for Rowan County’s 1971 state champs.

And so is Dyer, Kelly’s grandson. The East Rowan senior has signed with Catawba College.

“Logan has a full arsenal of talent and skill as a baseball player,” Catawba coach Jim Gantt said. “He’s a good infielder. He’s a good hitter. He’s a good baserunner with speed. He throws an upper-80s fastball and he has a good breaking pitch. And when you combine his talent and his skill with his competitiveness, he’s a hard guy to beat.”

Dyer is a good enough athlete that he was playing varsity football as a defensive back for East as a freshman. He also made his varsity baseball debut late in his freshman year.

As a sophomore, he batted .382 for East while striking out 28 men in 23 innings when he got chances on the mound. His season included some brilliant relief work in a critical win against West Rowan.

He made a college decision very early. He gave a verbal commitment to Coach Gantt and the Indians prior to his junior season at East.

“Signing with Catawba is what I had hoped to do since I started playing baseball,” Dyer said. “I knew I wanted to play for Coach Gantt and knew I wanted to play at Newman Park. When Catawba offered, it didn’t take very long for me to say yes.”

Dyer was an All-South Piedmont Conference player for East as a junior second baseman.

He batted over .300 in a league full of aces. He scored 33 runs and drove in 18. His power increased from his sophomore season with six doubles and two homers. He had a four-hit game against Concord and a three-RBI game against Lake Norman. He had great relief outings against South Rowan and Carson. He was the winning pitcher in relief as East rallied from a five-run deficit to beat North Davidson in the third round of the 3A state playoffs.

Dyer got to play in a few games for the Rowan County Legion team last summer, and really enjoyed it, but he had a balky shoulder that required labrum surgery in June.

He missed his senior season of football, a sport that he loves, but he was recently cleared to return to the mound. He threw his first bullpen last week.

“My shoulder felt great, and it was exciting to be back pitching again,” Dyer said.

Dyer is also excited about finishing up exams early. He takes an “in-person” economics class at East and takes two college-level classes online through Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.

With exams behind him, he’s started thinking about his senior baseball season at East.

East has been really good with its latest batch of standouts (25-5 and 23-6 the last two seasons), but the pitchers who became household names for the Mustangs — Cameron Padgett, Chance Mako and Morgan Padgett — all are in college now. Now Dyer and Nathan Hayworth will be looked to as senior leaders of the pitching staff.

“Logan is an all-round ballplayer,” East head coach Brett Hatley said. “He’s consistent, a hard worker who made all-conference for us as a 9-hole hitter. We expect him to be full go pitching from Day 1 this season and he’ll be our second baseman.”

East’s senior class, is led by shortstop Cobb Hightower, a UNC recruit who also will pitch some this year for the Mustangs for the first time.

Dyer may move over to shortstop when Hightower takes the mound, but East will be at its best when both Hightower and Dyer are in the infield.

“Cobb and I have played together up the middle since we were 6 years old,” Dyer said. “We know how to play around the bag together, and that’s a big strength for us. We can make defensive adjustments, based on who is pitching for us and who they’re pitching to. We can make more adjustments based on counts and situations. We’re usually in the right place.”

As far as offense, Dyer isn’t going to drive the ball as often as Hightower, but he’s a hard man to get out.

“My strength on offense is getting on base at a high rate,” he said. “I’m a good two-strike hitter. I’ll battle at the plate on every pitch of every at-bat.”

Dyer was throwing 86 mph fastballs before his surgery, and both Hatley and Gantt expect him to be good as new.

“Logan is the ultimate competitor,” Gantt said.  “He’s not afraid of anyone or any situation,”