Area Sports Briefs: Wild loss ends Mocksville’s season

Published 12:55 am Friday, July 6, 2018

From staff reports

Mocksville ended the American Legion baseball  season with a 16-11 loss to Greensboro Post 53  at Rich Park on Thursday.

Mocksville won the first game of the series, but Greensboro took the next two and advanced to a best-of-five quarterfinal matchup with  Randolph County that starts tonight at McCrary Park.

Greensboro benefited from nine HBPs in Thursday’s marathon. Greensboro scored two runs in the seventh to force extra innings and then got five more runs in the eighth. One of the those nine HBPS  forced in the run that broke an 11-all tie.

Brandon Gregory had  a homer and a double for Mocksville, while Patrick Usher tripled. Mocksville finished 13-13.

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Stanly County won a wild game in Ramseur, 9-7,  on Thursday to  win that series and advanced to a second-round series with Rowan County that starts tonight at Newman Park.

Hunter Sells hit a three-run homer in Stanly’s six-run third inning that pushed the visitors to a 6-1 lead. Jake Allen drove in three runs with two hits.

Hunter Little and Matt Moody had three hits each for Eastern Randolph.

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Davidson County won a decisive Game 3 at Concord on Thursday, edging Post 51, 8-7.  Davidson County moves to to play High Point, with Game 1 tonight at Finch Field.

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Kannapolis and Winston-Salem both swept their first-round series  and had Thursday off.  They’ll square off at Northwest Cabarrus High to start a best-of-five series tonight.

Junior Legion

East Rowan dropped Game 1 of a best-of-three first-round playoff series at Walkertown on Thursday, losing, 4-1.

Corbin Durham pitched well in the early innings for East.  East hosts Walkertown tonight at Staton Field at 7 p.m.

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Concord beat Cary, 4-0.

Intimidators

KANNAPOLIS — Preston Scott socked a three-run home run in the sixth inning, leading the Hickory Crawdads to a 4-2 win over the Kannapolis Intimidators on Thursday.

Josh Advocate struck Tate Blackman out with a runner on first to end the game for his third save of the season.

The home run by Scott scored Yonny Hernandez and Bubba Thompson to give the Crawdads a 3-2 lead.

Drew Harrington (4-4) took the loss in the South Atlantic League game

Pro baseball

Former Cox Mill hurler Julian Smith, a 6-foot-4 lefty pitcher, signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for $152,500.

He was a 15th-round pick in June.

Pitching for Catawba Valley Community College in 2016, Smith was injured. He sat out the 2017 season following  Tommy John elbow surgery.  He made a comeback this spring at CVCC with great results and was headed to  N.C. State.

Wonder update

Former A.L. Brown track star Talvanisha Lawing, who won the triple jump, long jump and 300 hurdles in the 2013 SPC Championships for meet MVP honors, is now serving in the U.S. Navy.

She’s on  the guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold, part of the  7th Fleet, in the Pacific.