Wooten Homers Twice as Wayne Sweeps

Season stats through 19 games are here. Brad's good friend from Caldwell County might come here to root for us now that his team was swept in the Area IV first round by Huntersville.

Box is here. 20 Game stats are here.

Mission accomplished.

Wayne County entered the Area I East playoffs with the idea of not only getting through the first round against Edgecombe County, but doing it in impressive fashion. And a dominant performance it was: In the history of the program, only the 1997 16-0 and 35-0 sweep of Spring Hope resulted in a greater margin of victory.

Post 11 rolled into the semifinals with a 15-1 win at Tarboro's Indian Lake Sports Complex Friday night and will await the winner of the Pitt County-Wilson series. The second game of that match up, which Pitt leads, was rained out after Pitt Community College officials decided the field was too wet to be used. Edenton defeated Kinston 5-2 to force a third and deciding game Saturday night. Nate Healy went the distance on the mound as New Bern defeated North No. 1 Rocky Mount 5-1 for the second straight game to advance to the second round.

Wayne (16-4) will play host to the first game Tuesday at Mount Olive College. The remainder of Wayne's games this season will be played there, and Post 11 officials expect to return to that site next season after moving to Southern Wayne High School due to field renovations.

Wayne took its time putting this game away, building a 5-1 lead after four innings. The killing blow came in the form of a ten-run seventh inning in which John Wooten homered twice. The second one came with a wooden bat.

Wooten led off the explosion with a first-pitch shot that cleared the left field fence. Adron Hollowell drove in a pair of runs with a hit to right, and Tyler Edwards tripled home two runs as Post 11 bunched a walk, a double, a triple, two home runs and five singles against Post 316.

Wooten was not the only player to contribute to the power surge. Walker Gourley followed a walk to Edwards in the third with a homer to left. An inning earlier, Zach Wright drove a 0-2 changeup over the fence in center field. One out later, Nolan Lancaster doubled down the left field line and scored on a ground ball single to center by Hollowell.

For the second straight night, the offense had 17 hits. Everyone in the starting lineup got a hit, and seven had two.

While the offense was having its way with a trio of Edgecombe pitchers, Taylor Allen was silencing the opposition bats. He allowed a first-inning run, then gave up one hit the last six innings for his fifth win. He recorded only one strikeout but needed only 78 pitches in the seven-inning contest. Two-thirds of those pitches went for strikes, as he was especially effective in hitting his spots.