By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com.
Rowan County and South Rowan face foes they haven’t encountered in a long time as the second round of the Area III playoffs begins tonight.
Top-seeded Rowan (19-4) takes on No. 4 seed Stanly (13-10) at home at 7 p.m., and No. 2 seed South (17-6) faces No. 3 Mooresville (12-8).
Rowan has lost only once at Newman Park all season, and South has taken its last five home games.
Rowan hasn’t encountered Stanly in the playoffs since the 1990s.
Powered by South Stanly players who won the 1A state championship, Stanly split its regular-season Legion meetings with Rowan this season.
Stanly rallied to win 10-8 in Albemarle. Since that loss, Rowan has won nine straight, including a 22-5 payback against Stanly at Newman Park. Trey Holmes hit two homers in that romp.
Over the last decade, Stanly has battled Rowan as tough as anyone in the Southern Division of Area III. This is Jim Gantt’s ninth year as head coach, and Rowan is 254-87 ó a winning percentage of .767 ó during his tenure. Rowan has tremendous records in that span against Mocksville (31-8), Mooresville (29-6), Wilkes (19-2), Concord (19-3), Statesville (16-0), Lexington (15-4) and South (14-4).
Rowan is 12-9 against Kannapolis, which has three recent Area III champions. Rowan is 10-8 against Stanly, which is harder to explain.
Over the last seven seasons, Rowan is 6-8 against Stanly. Even more amazing, Stanly has won on four of its last seven trips to Newman Park, where no one has an easy time.
Gantt will likely send Corbin Shive (6-0 career Legion record) to the mound tonight. Don’t let Shive’s 4.44 ERA fool you. He had one bad outing. He has 25 strikeouts and three walks, a better indicator of how dominant he’s been.
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South Rowan meets Mooresville for the third time in a playoff series, but it’s the first time in eight years. Mooresville swept a two-game series in 2000. South handled the Moors 4-1 in 2001.
The Game 1 matchup will probably be South sidearmer Will Misenheimer (4-2) against Mooresville lefty Nick Lomascolo (2-1, 3.18 ERA).
South swept a regular-season doubleheader from the Moors, but Mooresville comes in with six straight wins.
South doesn’t have a pitcher with more than 11 strikeouts, but it has speed, outfield defense and a potent offense. Mooresville is powered by Billy Nantz and Aaron Meadows, who have six homers apiece. West Rowan grad Brantley Horton has been a standout all summer with team highs of 35 hits, 27 runs and 21 RBIs.