By Bret Strelow
bstrelow@salisburypost.com
CONCORD ó South Rowan rallied to force extra innings, but Concord’s Zach Furr raced home to score the winning run.
Furr crossed the plate following a wild pitch with two out in the bottom of the 10th inning, and Concord collected a 7-6 victory against visiting South on Tuesday night.
Concord (9-9, 7-7) broke even in the seventh inning ó starter Ryan Bostian’s last on the mound ó and pulled ahead thanks to a three-run eighth. South (11-9, 7-6) struck for three runs with two away in the ninth, when Caleb Shore clubbed a game-tying, two-run double.
“It’s always hard to swallow a loss for whatever reason, whether you’re shellacked or you came back to tie it up,” South coach David Wright said. “The biggest thing is we have to swing it better. We didn’t swing it well against Mocksville ó we got lucky to win. We didn’t swing it at all (Monday), and we had no energy. I thought tonight we had some energy, but it’s another night we saw somebody’s No. 1.”Furr stole second as Alex Ingold fanned a hitter for the second out of the 10th. The throw to the bag bounced away, and Furr took third. He covered the final 90 feet during the next at-bat.
Concord’s Garrett Furr struck out 12 hitters and came within one out of a complete-game win, but South chased him by erasing a 6-3 deficit.
Zach Wright opened the ninth with a single, and Furr retired the next two batters. Wright scored on a double by Bostian, and Weston Church came to the plate as the tying run. He walked on a 3-2 pitch, and Shore then smacked a ball into the right-center gap.
“I got a walk, and Caleb came through big with a clutch hit right there,” Church said. “We just couldn’t muster up enough to win.”
Church contributed at a new position for his ailing team.
Second baseman Maverick Miles, set to hit third in the order, was a late scratch because of an ankle injury. C.J. Neal (possible torn rotator cuff) is out of the mix.
With Bostian scheduled to pitch, David Wright moved Church from third to second and Shore from left field to third. The last six hitters in the original lineup slid up one spot apiece, and new center fielder Scott Ashby batted ninth.
Church made the tag on Michael Tancini’s unsuccessful attempt at stealing second and cleanly fielded the only ball hit his way. He threw to first for the final out of the ninth inning.
“I haven’t played there since I was probably 9,” Church said. “When Maverick went down, Coach wanted me at second because we’re running short on players right now. I went out there and tried to play it at least.”
Ashby led off South’s three-run third with a home run, but that inning was the only blemish for Furr until the late rally.
“We didn’t do enough offensively to help ourselves out, especially in the middle innings, when we had some lulls.” Wright said. “It was a better night tonight, even with a loss.”