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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

The Mocksville Senior Legion baseball team bottomed out in the final game of the season, losing 9-0 to visiting Rowan County on July 15.

The win clinched first place in the Southern Division for Rowan, which improved to 10-3 overall and 7-0 in the division.

Rowan took an early lead. Charlie Klingler, the game’s first batter, singled off starter Joe Gaither. He stole second and third and scored on an two-out error.

If Mocksville doesn’t make some nice defensive plays, this would have ended in five innings. It turned two double plays and center fielder Trot Byerly threw out Tristan Miller at the plate in the second to keep the deficit 1-0.

But Rowan blew it open in the third. Hits by Logan Rogers (double), Dylan Driver (infield hit), Peyton Summerall (two-run single), Miller (RBI single) and Klingler (two-run double) extended the margin to 6-0.

Klingler paced Rowan’s 15-hit attack with four hits. Miller went 3 for 3 and Austin Fulk went 2 for 2 with two walks.

Mocksville was completely inept in two meetings against Driver. The Catawba recruit pitched a five-inning three-hitter in Rowan’s 10-0 wipeout on June 27, and this time he gave up two hits in five innings. (Both were infield hits.) Chase Drinkard relieved and tossed the final two innings.

It was an all-around miserable night for Mocksville, which had more errors (four) than hits (three).

Notes: Mocksville finished 5-13 overall and third in the five-team division. … A five-game losing streak at the end saw Mocksville get outscored 56-7. … Post 174 will look to turn things around in 2022. This was the seventh losing season in eight years. …. The final standings in the division: Rowan 8-0, Kannapolis 6-2, Mocksville 4-4, Mooresville 3-5, Concord 0-8.