By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

KANNAPOLIS — Rowan County’s American Legion baseball game at Kannapolis was rained out on Monday.

The washout will be made up on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Northwest Cabarrus High.

Rowan County (8-3, 6-0) has clinched a tie for first place in the Southern Division of Area III, although Mocksville (5-11, 4-2) and Kannapolis (6-4, 3-2) can still finish even tied for first with Rowan.

Rowan has a game left at Mocksville on Thursday, in addition to the game at Kannapolis. Rowan beat Mocksville 10-0 in the first meeting and beat Kannapolis 10-2 the first time around.

Kannapolis and Mocksville have split. The Towelers have two division games left with Mooresville. Mocksville is scheduled to play at Mooresville on Tuesday.

Only the top two teams from the Southern Division will qualify for the playoffs.

Rowan has a non-division game scheduled at Greensboro on Tuesday. Greensboro plays its home games at Western Guilford High.

Rowan is scheduled to host the Greensboro Redwings on Friday at Staton Field. That will be the last home game of the abbreviated regular season.

Rowan is scheduled to play High Point at Finch Field on Saturday to wrap up the regular season.

This year’s playoff format is short and simple, a best-of-three semifinal series to determine Area III’s two representatives for the state tournament in Cherryville. The Northern Division’s No. 1 team will take on the Southern Division No. 2, while the South Division champ takes on the Northern Division runner-up.

There will be a single championship game to determine a trophy and seeding for the state tournament.

Randolph County (13-4, 6-1) and High Point (9-3, 5-1) are on track to represent the Northern Division in the playoffs. Davidson County has beaten Rowan twice, but appears to be out of  contention for one of the North’s top two spots.

As usual, Rowan has exceeded preseason predictions. The roster looked shallow and unimposing when it was first released. Showcase ball, college summer school, vacations and surgeries have cut deep into the roster, and this Rowan squad has just 15% of the Post’s all-county team (three out of 20), which has to be an all-time low.

But some unexpected things have happened.

Logan Rogers returned from a year at Southeastern Community College as a .500 hitter with power. He was good last summer, but now he’s a man among boys. He’s having an epic season.

East Rowan graduate Charlie Klingler returned after a season at High Point University and has provided a huge boost. He’s been versatile defensively and he’s been an outstanding leadoff hitter. Lots of hard contact, and he’ll take a walk.

Throw in Rogers and his former Carson teammates CP Pyle and Dylan Driver — those two have been on-base machines — and the top of Rowan’s lineup has been hard to deal with. No. 5 hitter Aiden Schenck has heated up in the last week or so and provides lefty power. Austin Fulk, who hits down in the lineup, has produced an amazing number of two-out hits.

The mound has been where Rowan was supposed to be really shaky, but the coaching staff has built a staff around Mattox Henderson, who pitched five innings for East Rowan as a senior, and Chase Drinkard, who won one varsity game during his high school career at Carson.

Drinkard (4-1) developed confidence and consistency while getting some relief work at Southeastern Community College in the spring and he’s become a strike-throwing ace. Henderson (2-0) has pitched two shutouts, including a five-inning no-hitter. Driver (1-0), a Catawba recruit, pitched a great game to shut down Mocksville. Tristan Miller and Klingler have done a good job catching the hurlers.

Rowan has fleshed out the lineup with guys who weren’t exactly household names a month ago — third baseman Peyton Summerall, first baseman Jacob Causey and right fielder Jaxon Trexler — and has managed to win all of its divisional games.

Whether Rowan has enough pitching to get past Randolph County or High Point remains to be seen, but it looks like Rowan will at least get the chance to experience the excitement of the playoffs.