Staff report

SALISBURY — Hayden Simmerson’s first pitch on Saturday sent a runner to first base as a hit batsman, but his next 73 pitches were a lot better.

Simmerson turned in a dominant complete-game performance against Kannapolis Post 115 in a Newman Park showdown for first place in the Southern Division of Area III.

Click here to see more photos from the game.

A Carson graduate headed to Catawba College, Simmerson struck out 11 and walked none in a 6-0 victory. He allowed two hits, both to Brooks Hubbard.

Simmerson (5-0) threw fastballs for strikes and sliders for strikes. He attacked hitters. Kannapolis hit some balls hard, but Rowan County was much sharper defensively than it was in a ragged road win on Friday and made all the plays.

Rowan County won its 10th game in a row. Randolph County had stopped two previous nine-game winning streaks, but Rowan (28-3, 8-0) finally got to 10 in a row on Saturday.

Kannapolis (13-4, 6-1) lost for the first time in the division.

JT Taylor provided a lot of Rowan’s offense. His two-run triple in the fourth made it 4-0.

In the sixth, he had a run-scoring double and scored Rowan’s final run, moving around the bases on productive outs by Blake Hill and Luke Graham.

Rowan got on top 2-0 against Kannapolis pitcher Tanner Kaler in the first inning. Taylor walked and advanced to third when Hill executed on a hit-and-run single. Graham singled in Taylor, and Hill scored on a passed ball.

Cameron Burleyson, Simmerson’s high school batterymate who alternates at catcher with Matthew Connolly, had one of his better offensive games. He had a double and scored twice.

Kannapolis also used Brett Morris on the mound. He worked the fifth and sixth.

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LEXINGTON — Rowan County used a seven-run fourth inning to survive four errors and won 8-6 at Davidson County on Friday.

The key man in the game was Rowan relief pitcher Alex Hagler (4-1), who allowed two hits in three innings.

Rowan was in a major mess in the bottom of the third, already trailing 2-0 at Holt-Moffitt Field, and Davidson County had the bases loaded with no outs. That’s when Hagler answered the call to the bullpen to replace starter Corbin Bailey.

Hagler’s first pitch was the turning point of the game — a ground ball for 4-6-3 double play that was started by Cole Johnson and turned by Taylor. Davidson got a run on the play, but Hagler struck out the next man, and Rowan got out of a potentially disastrous inning trailing by a manageable 3-0.

Aiden Schenck came out of a slump to blast a homer to start the Rowan fourth, and his line drive over the right-field fence triggered a huge inning. Simmerson doubled. Johnson singled to cut the deficit to 3-2. Elijah Palmer’s single and a walk to Taylor filled the bases.

Hill waked with the bases loaded for 3-all. Graham’s two-run single put Rowan ahead to stay. Rowan tacked on two more in the inning, one on Morgan Padgett’s single and one on an error.

Even with a 7-3 lead, it wasn’t routine because of some uncharacteristic unearned runs allowed by Rowan and because Davidson County wouldn’t give up.

Joe Buryleson did a nice job in relief of Hagler and earned a save. He struck out four and handled a pressure situation in the seventh when Davidson had back-to-back hits with one out.

Taylor had a triple in the fifth inning to knock in Rowan’s final run. Simmerson and Padgett had two hits each. Johnson scored two runs.

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High Point beat Randolph County 6-3 on Friday in a key Northern Division game.