HobbsDailyReport.com
For scores from all first-round series and additional pairings, see an earlier post on the website
Six of the eight first-round Area IV American Legion baseball series are over, and the final two will play Game 5s on Wednesday night.
West No. 3 seed Caldwell County faces East No. 6 seed Mint Hill at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night at Independence High, and East No. 5 goes to West No. 4 Asheville (7 p.m. at Asheville Roberson High) to complete that series.
The Caldwell County-Mint Hill winner advances to Round 2 against the East No. 2 Gaston Braves, while the Asheville-Lincoln County winner next draws East No. 1 Union County.
Four series ended on Tuesday when Cherryville beat Kings Mountain, the Gaston Braves beat Rutherford County, Union County defeated Hickory and Shelby ousted Henderson County.
On Monday, Gastonia ousted Burke County and Taylorsville eliminated Maiden.
The first games of the second round are scheduled to start Thursday at the higher seeds. They’re best-of-5 series scheduled to be completed by Monday, with the winners reaching the semifinals (best-of-5) on July 12-16.
The opening games so far are: Gastonia at Cherryville; Caldwell County or Mint Hill at the Gaston Braves; Asheville or Lincoln County at Union County; Shelby at Taylorsville.
Highlights from Tuesday:
Caldwell County 3-16, Mint Hill 5-2: At M.S. Deal Stadium in Granite Falls, Carson Vance hit a grand slam and Post 29 scored 12 runs in the fourth inning to even the series at two games each by winning 16-2.
In the first game Tuesday, also at Deal Stadium, Mint Hill won 5-3 to go up two games to one.
Union County 11, Hickory 8: Union County jumped to a 6-0 lead through two innings as the Legion Fairgrounds in Newton en route to a series-closing victory.
A five-run fourth inning boosted Union County’s lead to 11-2.
Hickory, finishing 11-15, had 15 hits but was 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11. That included runners at second and third twice.
Union County won the series 3-1, winning three straight games after Hickory had won 12-2 in the opening game of the series in Newton.
Lincoln County 10, Asheville 9: Lincoln County evened its series at two games each by winning at East Lincoln High on Tuesday.
Lincoln County stayed alive by winning 5-3 on Monday at Asheville Roberson High.