By David Shaw
dshaw@salisburypost.com
MOCKSVILLE ó So far it’s been a lost weekend for Rowan County’s American Leagion baseball team.
One night after suffering a draining, 12-inning defeat at Concord, RC came up empty in a 2-1 Southern Division loss at Mocksville on Saturday.
“It’s not time to get alarmed,” coach Jim Gantt reassured after Rowan (7-3, 5-2) managed only four singles against West Rowan graduate Jake Koontz. “The only thing that bothered me was our approach. We didn’t make any adjustments.”
Koontz had something to do with that. Now a freshman at Brevard, he forced Rowan to play the game at his pace ó briskly. The right-hander used two distinct pitches, an adequate curve and a mesmerizing changeup to help Mocksville (5-6, 3-5) snap a six-game losing streak.
“Jake was unbelievable. That’s about all you can say,” said Post 54 coach Mike Lovelace. “We made some big-time defensive plays, but this game was all about Jake Koontz.”
As a starting pitcher, Koontz provided some much-needed relief for seventh-place Mocksville. Lovelace reported his team had allowed 10 or more runs in five of its previous six games, and yielded 57 during a three-game stretch.
“It’s been rough, but a lot of things have gone wrong,” said Koontz, who pitched an inning in relief against Gantt’s Catawba College squad this spring. “One thing would go bad and then everything would go bad. The wheels fell off. Hopefully, this gets us back on track.”
Koontz pitched a complete game, struck out 11 and coaxed nine groundouts. But he also walked five and hit a couple of batters, straying in and out trouble all night.
“Jake had their batters guessing,” said Mocksville catcher Hernan Bautista. “He made mistakes, but luckily they didn’t capitalize on them.”
For the most part, Rowan couldn’t drive Miss Daisy home ó spoiling a decent start by Cody Laws and and 31/3 innings of hermetically sealed relief by Corbin Shive. RC stranded nine baserunners, five in scoring position.
“We didn’t hit. We didn’t execute,” outfielder Russell Michalec said after going 2-for-4 and driving home Rowan’s only run with a seventh-inning sacrifice fly. “But we’re missing Jon Crucitti. That’s a big hole to fill.”
Without its cleanup hitter ó Crucitti spent the weekend at a Rice University football camp ó Rowan’s lineup was a few ribs short of a full rack.
“I don’t know,” Gantt objected. “I think we ran into a guy who can pitch, and he exploited our weaknesses. Koontz used our own aggressiveness against us.”
Laws, a tall right-hander who made his first start, breezed through four scoreless innings before Mocksville chased him in the fifth. Clint Howell clobbered his third pitch of the inning over the wall in straight-away center field for the game’s first run.
“That happens when you’re throwing strikes,” Gantt said. “And Cody was.”
Then, with one out, Mocksville’s Tyler King and Zeb Cope collected back-to-back singles and Bautista ó who hit a sizzling .402 for West Rowan this season ó smashed a run-scoring double off the left-field wall for a 2-0 edge.
“It was an inside fastball,” he said. “My eyes lit up.”
Shive replaced Laws with two away and retired nine of the 10 batters he faced. Ethan Fisher, who went 2-for-3, scored Rowan’s run in the top of the seventh after serving a leadoff hit into left. He advanced on walks to Matt Miller and Preston Troutman, then crossed when Michalec lifted a long fly ball to center.
The rest was up to Koontz, who retired Rowan in order in the eighth and induced Michalec to foul out with the potential tying run on second base to end the game.
“The last couple of weeks we showed we could lose to the worst teams,” said Bautista. “This right here proves we can hang with the best of the best.”
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NOTES: RC turned double plays in the second, fourth and seventh innings. … Crucitti ó 10-for-20 with 11 RBIs in Rowan’s first six games ó is expected back for tonight’s non-leaguer against Denver at Newman Park.