From staff reports

Miscues and walks set the stage for a sixth-inning grand slam, as Texarkana, Arkansas, beat Rowan County, 6-1, on Saturday afternoon in Florence, S.C.

It was a rematch of last year’s World Series championship game that  Texarkana won in 12 innings.

Rowan starter Hayden Setzer pitched very well,  and it was 1-all after five innings. Rowan scratched out its only run in the fourth.

Lee Poteat and Henderson Lentz had early doubles, but Rowan couldn’t  move the runners around.

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Rowan (19-1) rallied to beat Hope Mills, 11-9, immediately after its first loss.

Rowan trailed 5-0 after Hope Mills hit two homers in the top of the first, but Lentz, Trevor Atwood and Setzer knocked in runs in the bottom of the first to get Rowan back in the game.

Hope Mills would  belt two more homers, but Rowan starter Brett Graham hung in the game for five innings and got the win.

Rowan got within 6-5 in the bottom of the second when John Owen drove in a run with a fielder’s choice, and Lentz scored on a passed ball.

With Rowan trailing, 7-5, Lentz had an RBI single in the third and Tanner File got a run home with a groundout in the  fourth for a 7-all tie.

Pearce Wilhelm’s long, two-run homer, his first, gave Rowan a 9-7 lead in the fourth, and Graham pitched out of a serious jam in the top of the fifth.

Rowan got its last two runs on wild pitches and passed balls, and was able to hang on. Noah Gonzalez got some big outs. Hope Mills put the tying runs on base in the seventh.

Second baseman Tanner File (mono) returned to the lineup, but  first baseman Brandon Walton was out with the hamstring strain/pull that he suffered in Friday’s game with Kannapolis.

Rowan returns home to play Mooresville at Newman Park tonight at 7 p.m.

Junior Legion

East Rowan stayed undefeated (16-0) by defeating the Davidson Hawgs and the Davidson Warriors on a soggy Saturday.

J.D. Basinger was the winner in a 13-3 romp against the Hawgs in five innings. East scored 10 runs in the fifth.

Bryson Wagner and Corbin Moss had three hits each. Jax Fitz and Charlie Klingler had two hits.

In an 8-3 win against the Warriors, Jake Hunter was the winning pitcher.

Moss had two hits.

East plays at Carson tonight.

Carson’s doubleheader with West Rowan was rained out on Saturday. The teams will play one makeup game on Thursday at 7.

Rowan Little League

Rowan  Little League  minor softball defeated East Surry, 15-0,  at home in the semifinals of district play.

Rowan will play Monday night at  7 p.m. for the championship.

Intimidators

Tim Tebow drove in two runs as the Columbia Fireflies rallied in the late innings to beat the Intimidators, 4-3, on Saturday night at Spirit Communication Park in Columbia, S.C.

Kannapolis (2-1 second half, 41-30) held the lead until the ninth inning when Columbia’s Jay Jabs scored the winning run on a walk-off wild pitch.

  Aaron Schnurbusch put Kannapolis on the board first with a two-run homer  to left field in the top of the third inning.

Kannapolis wraps up this 4-game series at Columbia on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. as RHP Blake Hickman (0-1, 2.92 ERA) takes the mound for the Intimidators against Fireflies LHP Thomas Szapucki (1-1, 3.86 ERA). The team returns to Intimidators Stadium supported by Carolinas HealthCare System on Monday, June 26, to open an 8-game home stand.  Tickets are available by calling the F&M Bank Box Office at 704-932-3267 or by visiting IntimidatorsBaseball.com.