Northwestern sweeps archrival Rock Hill, plus all region standings ahead of SC playoffs

Northwestern pitcher Owen Sarna made his first start of the season on Friday night.

And saying it went “according to plan” would be an understatement.

The junior right-handed pitcher dealt a complete game on Friday, allowing eight hits and four runs while striking out one in Northwestern’s 7-4 win over archrival Rock Hill. The win punctuated Northwestern’s three-game series sweep over the Bearcats and cemented that the Trojans — after a “roller coaster ride” of a regular season — are doing what every high school baseball team aspires to do: They’re unearthing new potential right before the playoffs.

“They’re coming along,” Northwestern head coach Ryan Hunt told The Herald postgame. “I think we’re playing our best baseball at the right time. We’re getting ready hopefully for the next couple of weeks and will try to make a run.”

The Trojans, with the win, clinched third in the Region 4-5A standings. Rock Hill is playoff-bound, too, as a No. 4 seed. The South Carolina baseball playoffs begin May 3, and the first round features eight double-elimination brackets of four teams each.

And if this week is any indication of how good Northwestern could be, the Trojans’ run in May might last a while.

On Friday, Northwestern scored first and never relinquished the lead: In the first inning, an Andrew Sands groundout sent in Michael Gibson to put the score at 1-0. Then in the top of the third, a Jack Burton double sent in Charlie Burton (2-0), and then Ethan Darden laced a double to right field that scored Burton and Sands (4-0).

The Bearcats proved resilient, though. With two outs in the bottom of the third, Rock Hill strung together a walk, a single and then a John Wimmer three-run home run that cleared Skylar Hooten and Max Gladstone off the base path. Rock Hill cut the lead to 4-3.

But that’s as close as it got.

Then Northwestern scored three more in the top of the seventh — one of those runs credited to Darden, who notched a team-high three RBI on the night — and Rock Hill scored one on a Cole Canty groundout to make it 7-4.

“Ethan can swing,” Hunt said postgame. His senior, who is best known for being a stalwart left-handed pitcher and will be playing baseball for Clemson next year, is “in the four-hole for a reason,” Hunt said.

“You know, we only have two seniors,” Hunt added. “Tonight, we went two freshmen, three sophomores, three juniors and two seniors. I’m proud of these guys. I really am.”

Sarna wasn’t only great on Friday. The junior also was clutch on Wednesday night: He came in with the bases loaded, no outs and the tying run on third — and still found a way to hold on to help his team escape with a 3-2 win.

For Hunt and the rest of the Trojans, Sarna’s emergence is welcomed but not necessarily surprising. An injury sidelined him and/or kept him with a low pitch count most of the year.

“Owen came up last year, was a reliever for us,” Hunt said. “He struggled with arm soreness basically at the beginning of the year. He’s been on pitch counts for the last couple weeks. It was probably a full month. And then last week was a full-go. And this was his first time going over 90 pitches.”

But, in baseball and everything else, timing is everything.

And at least for the Trojans, all signs indicate they’re doing everything right at the right time.

Other baseball scores

Monday

Legion Collegiate 9, South Columbus 1

Tuesday

Clover 2, Gaffney 1

Fort Mill 2, Boiling Springs 0

York 7, South Pointe 1

Airport 14, Indian Land 6

Indian Land 13, Airport 6

Andrew Jackson 5, Hartsville 1

Wednesday

Northwestern 3, Rock Hill 2

Clover 2, Gaffney 0

Charlotte Catholic 7, Nation Ford 6

Boiling Springs 7, Fort Mill 1

South Pointe 13, York 3

Andrew Jackson 5, Georgia Premier Red 3

Union 8, Lewisville 5

North Central 15, Great Falls 5

Legion Collegiate 14, West Stanly 2

Thursday

Northwestern 12, Rock Hill 3

Catawba Ridge 7, Nation Ford 2

Andrew Jackson 2, Trinity Collegiate 1

Chesterfield 11, Lewisville 1

Friday

Northwestern 7, Rock Hill 4

Clover 10, Gaffney 3

Boiling Springs 6, Fort Mill 3

York 10, South Pointe 4

Catawba Ridge 11, Nation Ford 1

Andrew Jackson 8, DeMatha 2

Lewisville 9, Chesterfield 1

Baseball region standings

Region 3-5A - 1. Clover 11-1/21-2; 2. Boiling Springs 6-3/14-6; 3. Nation Ford 4-5/6-14; 4. Fort Mill 2-7/14-7; 5. Gaffney 1-8/3-17.

Region 4-5A - 1. Blythewood 11-0/23-1; 2. Spring Valley 7-4/10-9; 3. Northwestern 6-5/11-8; 4. Rock Hill 4-8/7-11; 5. Ridge View 0-11/1-15.

Region 3-4A - 1. Catawba Ridge 10-2/19-5; 2. York 7-4/11-10; 3. Indian Land 6-6/11-10; 4. Lancaster 3-8/6-12; 5. South Pointe 3-9/6-13.

Region 4-3A - 1. Mid-Carolina 6-0/13-4; 2. Chester 4-2/6-6; 3. Fairfield Central 4-4/7-8; 4. Lower Richland 2-3/4-6; 5. Keenan 0-7/2-9.

Region 4-2A - 1. Andrew Jackson 10-0/23-1; 2. Chesterfield 7-3/16-5; 3. Buford 6-3/11-9; 4. North Central 5-6/8-8; 5. Cheraw 4-6/8-10; 6. York Prep 0-6/2-7; 7. Pageland Central 0-8/0-11.

Region 2-1A - 1. Lewisville 6-0/9-12; 2. McBee 4-2/6-12; 3. Great Falls 2-4/3-10; 4. CA Johnson 0-6/0-8.

Softball scores

Tuesday

Fort Mill 3, Boiling Springs 2

Clover 7, Gaffney 2

Rock Hill 22, Ridge View 20

York 10, South Pointe 0

Catawba Ridge 23, Nation Ford 7

Lewisville 16, North Central 6

Wednesday

Rock Hill 22, South Pointe 20

Nation Ford 4, York 3

Chester 18, Lower Richland 0

Thursday

Dorman 13, Clover 6

Chester 15, Great Falls 4

Friday

Rock Hill 11, Northwestern 1

Fort Mill 15, Gaffney 9

Clover 15, Nation Ford 2

Catawba Ridge 19, South Pointe 1

Mid-Carolina 15, Chester 0

Great Falls 18, Fairfield Central 16

Softball region standings

Region 3-5A - 1. Clover 6-1/14-5; 2. Fort Mill 5-1/9-5; 3. Nation Ford 2-4/9-10; 4. Gaffney 2-5/4-10; 5. Boiling Springs 1-5/10-8.

Region 4-5A - 1. Blythewood 6-0/12-4; 2. Spring Valley 3-2/9-10; 3. Rock Hill 3-3/7-13, 4. Ridge View 2-3/9-4; 5. Northwestern 0-6/0-8.

Region 3-4A - 1. Catawba Ridge 6-1/18-2; 2. Lancaster 5-1/14-5; 3. York 3-4/7-5; 4. Indian Land 2-4/4-10; 5. South Pointe 0-6/0-10.

Region 4-3A - 1. Mid-Carolina 3-1/8-5; 2. Chester 4-2/6-5; 3. Fairfield Central 1-2/2-5; 4. Lower Richland 1-4/1-9.

Region 4-2A - 1. Buford 9-0/13-4; 2. Cheraw 5-3/7-6; 3. Chesterfield 4-3/5-6; 4. Andrew Jackson 4-4/10-7; 5. North Central 2-6/2-11; 6. Pageland Central 0-8/0–11.

Region 2-1A - 1. Lewisville 8-0/16-7; 2. McBee 4-2/5-4; 3. Great Falls 4-4/5-6; 4. CA Johnson 2-4/2-6; 5. Midlands Stem 0-8/0-8.

This story was originally published April 22, 2022 at 11:12 PM.

Alex Zietlow

The Herald

Alex Zietlow writes about sports and the ways in which they intersect with life in York, Chester and Lancaster counties for The Herald, where he has been an editor and reporter since August 2019. Zietlow has won nine S.C. Press Association awards in his career, including First Place finishes in Feature Writing, Sports Enterprise Writing and Education Beat Reporting. He also received two Top-10 awards in the 2021 APSE writing contest and was nominated for the 2022 U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Rising Star award for his coverage of the Winthrop men’s basketball team.