7-17-21 roundup: Pro basketball, Legion baseball, Pro baseball

By Richard Walker

The Charlotte Hornets continued pre-NBA Draft workouts on Saturday with six more prospects, including former Belmont Abbey standout Romeao Ferguson.

The Hornets, who have had seven workouts with 43 different prospects, also worked out Derrick Alston, Jr., of Boise State, Ian Dubose of Wake Forest, Ariel Hukporti of Nevezis (Lithuania), Carlik Jones of Louisville and Ruot Monyyong of Little Rock.

Ferguson earned All-Conference Carolinas honors at Belmont Abbey in 2019 and 2020 before finishing his career as a graduate transfer at NCAA Division I Lipscomb.

Ferguson averaged 14.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists in the 2018-19 season and 17.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists in the 2019-20 season. At Lipscomb, Ferguson averaged 13.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists.

 

 

Legion baseball

Cherryville’s Fraley Field will be the site for all games of the upcoming N.C. Area IV best-of-three championship series.

Rutherford County eliminated Queen City three games to one in its semifinal series with an 18-6 road win in five innings on Saturday.

Cherryville had completed a three games to none sweep of Mint Hill the night beore.

The opener of the Area IV finals series is Wednesday at 7 p.m. The second game is Thursday at 7 p.m. And a third game, if necessary, is slated for Friday at 7 p.m.

Cherryville is 17-5 and Rutherford County 16-6. The teams split their regular season matchups, with Cherryville winning 12-2 in six innings in Cherryville on June 21 and Rutherford County winnin 8-7 in eight innings at Forest City’s McNair Field on June 28.

Both teams are advancing to the July 28-31 N.C. Legion state tournament hosted by Cherryville; The field will be comprised of two teams apiece from Areas I, II, III and IV.

 

 

Junior Legion baseball

The Area IV tournament began Monday. Here are the results and schedule:

(Pod A)

Monday’s games
Cherryville 14, Caldwell County 7
Burns 3, South Caldwell 1

Tuesday’s games
Burns 8, Cherryville 7 (8 innings)
South Caldwell 5, Caldwell County 1 (Caldwell County eliminated)

Wednesday’s game
Cherryville 4, South Caldwell 1

Friday’s game
Cherryville 5, Burns 3

Saturday’s game
Cherryville 3, Burns 2, 9 innings (Cherryville advances to Junior Legion N.C. state tournament in High Point July 22-26)

(Pod B)

Monday’s games
East Rutherford 13, Cramer 1
R-S Central 6, Matthews 4

Tuesday’s games
East Rutherford 10, R-S Central 5
Matthews 14, Cramer 4 (Cramer eliminated)

Wednesday’s game
Matthews 2, R-S Central 1

Thursday’s game
Matthews 6, East Rutherford 3

Friday’s game
Matthews 9, East Rutherford 5 (Matthews advances to Junior Legion N.C. state tournament in High Point July 22-26)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pro baseball

The Gastonia Honey Hunters lost 12-7 to visiting West Virginia Saturday night to fall to 19-25 on the season.

The current three-game homestand concludes at Gastonia’s CaroMont Health Park at 4:50 p.m. Sunday against West Virginia.