High school baseball roundup: Pope cycles; East, Hornets, Wonders win

Published 1:54 am Wednesday, April 16, 2025

From staff reports

Tuesday games …

CONCORD — Sophomore catcher Brody Pope hit for the cycle, a rare feat, as West Rowan destroyed Northwest Cabarrus 21-2 in South Piedmont Conference action.

West (18-3, 12-2) amassed 20 hits, while playing errorless ball in the five-inning blowout and stayed a game ahead of East Rowan.

Pope gave no hint of what was to come later when he struck out in the first inning. He singled in West’s eight-run second inning. He did most of his damage with a homer and a triple in a nine-run third. He led off the fifth with a double to complete the cycle.

Pope drove in five runs.

Batting eighth, senior third baseman Brice Knox also drove in five runs with two doubles and two singles.

Maddox Moore and Cole Blevins, who were hitting in front of Pope, scored three runs each. Luke Ponczka, Eli Graham and Knox also scored three runs.

Moore had three hits. Blevins, Brant Graham and Carter Durant had two.

Ben Koontz went 1-for-1 with a double.

Moore (7-0) pitched four innings, struck out eight walked two and logged the easy win. Ponczka pitched the fifth.

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GRANITE QUARRY — East Rowan held on to beat South Rowan 5-3 in South Piedmont Conference action at Staton Field.

South (11-8, 8-6) had the bases loaded with one out in the seventh, but Mason Phelps relieved Harrison Ailshie, who was at the pitch limit, and nailed down the save on four pitches.

Ailshie (7-1) struck out six and walked three. South had six hits, while the Mustangs (17-4, 10-3) had five.

Phelps doubled home a run in the first inning, but South scored three unearned runs in the third to take a 3-1 lead. Lucas Cox knocked in two with a base hit and Matthew Overcash drove in one.

The key inning was the bottom of the fourth, as East scored four unearned runs against Overcash (4-3) to retake the lead at 5-3. Hunter Goodman and Braylen Ketchie had RBI singles in the inning, while Ailshie and Logan Bradley had sac flies.

Colton Helms pitched well in relief for South and gave the Raiders a chance to rally, but East was able to maintain its lead.

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SALISBURY — Salisbury won 8-5 against Atkins in a non-conference game.

Landon Tucker was the winning pitcher for the Hornets (6-14).

Cole Price had three hits for Salisbury. Tucker, Evan Koontz, Hank Webb and Ben Young had two hits each.

The Atkins Camels are 4-14.

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LEXINGTON — Wyatt Griffith and Original Sifford had three hits each as Lexington beat North Rowan 16-2 in Central Carolina Conference baseball.

The Yellow Jackets (2-13, 1-8) scored in every inning to win easily against the Cavaliers (3-11, 2-7).

Dylan Garrigus and Ethan Prange had hits for North. TJ Heggins had an RBI.

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KANNAPOLIS — A.L. Brown pounded West Cabarrus 12-5 for a Greater Metro Conference win.

Both teams had 10 hits.

The Wonders (5-14, 2-9) got a three-run homer in the fifth from CJ Gray to break it open.