Staff report

SALISBURY — This one was over shortly after the starting lineups were introduced.

Rowan County’s American Legion baseball team scored 10 runs in the bottom of the first inning at Newman Park on Sunday night and strolled to a 17-1 win against Concord.

Rowan (15-10, 7-2) finished the regular season with a five-game winning streak and has won 13 of its last 16 games. The pitching and defense have been consistent. The hitters produce lots of walks and singles — and sacrifice flies. Rowan had 14 hits and four sac flies on Sunday.

Concord scored a run in the top of the first, but it was all Rowan after that. Besides the 10-run first, there was a seven-run third for the home team.

Evan Koontz (1-1) got his first win of the summer and earned it with a one-hitter.

Drew Burton and Luke Graham drove in three runs each. Just about everyone in the Rowan lineup had two hits.

Rowan will open a best-of-five playoff series at Newman Park on Wednesday. The opponent will be Randolph County or Davidson County.

High Point clinched the Northern Division championship on Sunday with a 7-6 win against Davidson County. High Point will have home-field advantage for a first-round playoff series with Mocksville.

Randolph County (4-3) and Davidson County (4-4) play each other on Monday night at McCrary Park. Randolph also has a game left with High Point (7-1) on Tuesday.

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NOTES: Jim Gantt’s record as head coach of Rowan County American Legion is 666-230. That’s not counting the 23-8 NC3 summer of 2020 when there was no sanctioned Legion baseball. Gantt has won 990 games as Catawba College’s head coach, so that’s 1,656 official wins between the two programs. … Don Hines offers a ranking of the state’s Legion teams. He ranks Rowan 10th.