Wayne Surges Past Rocky Mount

Here's a meaningless statistic for you: Rocky Mount Post 58 outhit Wayne County Post 11 9-8 in their Area I East first-round playoff game Wednesday night.

What's more important is that Wayne took advantage of a meltdown by Rocky Mount pitcher Tyler Johnson to roll into the second round with a 13-1 victory in eight innings at Rocky Mount Academy. Wayne is 85-7 in games decided by the ten-run rule.

Wayne (15-4) will face the winner of Thursday's Pitt County 39-Edenton game in a best-of-five series beginning Friday. Pitt County 160 defeated Wilson to force a third game.

"I think we will be hard to handle in a five-game series because we have nine arms that are very capable of getting the job done," said Wayne coach Brad Reaves. "We will go with Grant Sasser Friday, Garrett Davis Saturday, and Brandon Price or Taylor Bullard on Sunday, depending on the feel we get from whomever we play. T.J. Hinson should be ready again by Monday if we need him or we can use whomever we do not use on Sunday."

Post 11 had appeared in the league title series in nine of the past eleven years before being swept in the first round the past two seasons.

Wayne was clinging to a 2-1 lead in the sixth and appeared to be on its way to another quiet inning. But Davis was hit by a pitch on a 1-2 fastball with one out to signal a dramatic shift in the game. John Wooten followed with a single in the right centerfield gap. Will Edgerton walked to bring up Nolan Lancaster.

He took two pitches for balls, swung at one well out out the strike zone and watched a cueve for ball three before belting fastball to left centerfield for a home run to give Post 11 some breathing room. It was only the third hit allowed by Joyner.

Joyner, who threw 127 pitches, didn't make it out of the seventh inning. He hit two more batters, then had two runs score on a bases loaded throwing error with two out. Thomas Pilkington made sure that miscue was an even more expensive one when he doubled home two more runs againsrt reliever Dillon Cockrell.

Wayne continued to get things done with three more runs in the eighth. Jackson Massey started things with a single and was safe at second on a dropped throw on Walker Gourley's grounder. Davis, who had been hit by a pitch twice, lined an 0-1 fastball over the fence in right to cap the rout.

Hinson provided Wayne with another solid job on the mound. He went six innings, allowing seven hits, but he never allowd the opposition to put together a big inning. Rocky Mount's only run came in the first with the aid of an error on a bunt.

"That's exactly what he did,' said Reaves. "He threw strikes and made big pitches when he needed to. Mature pitchers do that, and TJ has matured alot since last year."

Joyner started the game as if he wasn't going to be around long. He walked Jackson Massey and Walker Gourley before settling down to fan Davis. Massey reached third on an errant pickoff throw and scored on Wooten's grounder. Gourley came in on a two-out passed ball on a strikeout.

Edgerton's liner to center was the only ball hit out of the infield in the first five innings.

"He carved us up early," Reaves said of Joyner. "I think he lost his composure. He tried to do to much instead of allowing his fielders to help him out. There is a time for strikeouts but mature pitchers depend on their defense to help them out of jams."


Wayne ......AB..R..H..BI............Rocky Mount...AB..R..H..BI
Massey rf..3..2..2..0..................Moore cf..4..1..1..0
Gourley ss..4..3..0..0.................Webb ss..3..0..2..0
Davis dh..3..2..1..3.....................Macklin rf..3..0..2..1
Wooten..1b5..2..2..1...................Cockrell 3b-p..4..0..1..0
Edgerton lf..3..2..0..0................ Hodges p..0..0..0..0
Lancaster cf..2.2..1..4.................Berry dh-3b 3..0..0..0
Casey cf..1..0..0..0......................Pearce 3..0..0..0
Pilkington 3b..3..0..1..2..............Womble 1b..4..0..1..0
Ham c..........4..0..1..0..................Johnson lf..3..0..1..0
Narron 2b..4..0..0..0....................................________
..................................._______.....................30..1..9..1
....................................32..13..8..10

Wayne....200...004...43 -13...8...1
RM..........100...000...00 - 1...9...3

E-Joyner, Hinson, Cockrell, Allen. DP-Wayne 1. LOB Wayne 5, RM 11.
2B-Pilkington. HR-Lancaster, Davis. SB-Massey, Gourley. CS-Edgerton,
Ham. S-Webb, Johnson. SF-Macklin.

Wayne......IP..H..R..ER..BB..SO..NP
Hinson (W) 6..7..1..0..1..5...76
Rose.............1..2..0..0..0..1...25
Bullard.........1..0..0..0..1..3...22
RM
Joyner (L)...6 2/3..4..10..7..5..6...129
Cockrell...........2/3..4..3..2..0..1...27
Hodges.............2/3....0..0..0..0..1...5
WP-Rose. PB-Pearce. HBP-Lancaster (by Taylor), Davis (by Taylor),
Davis (by Taylor), Lancaster (by Taylor), Edgerton (by Taylor).