Wayne Opens League Play with Extra-Inning Win

Wayne County Post 11 coach Brad Reaves will take the win, but that doesn't mean he has to be happy about how it happened.

Pinch-runner Alex Casey scored from second during a rundown behind him, and Wayne struggled past Kinston Post 43 2-1 in 10 innings on the road to successfully open its Area I East South season and improve its record to 4-0.

"We didn't come to play," said an exasperated Reaves. " We forget stuff. We drag around the dugout. If we don't get two great pitching performances, we're dead."

Wayne emerged victorious despite not getting a hit after the fifth inning. And quite appropriately, the winning run came after a baserunning mistake that was erased by a failure of the defense to take advantage of it.

Kinston pitcher Billy Dudding retired the first two batters in the tenth, then walked Jay Rose on four pitches. He hit Tyler Ham on a 3-2 count. Reaves sent Casey to run for Rose.

Ham was picked off first by the catcher, and Casey raced for third. As Kinston desperately tried to get to Ham for the tag, Casey made a successful dash for the plate. Ham stayed alive as Kinston botched the rundown, but Dudding got the final out on a grounder.

Wayne now had regained the lead. And with flamethrower Garrett Davis on the mound and facing the bottom of the order, that looked to be enough for the visitors.

But nothing in this game came easy for Post 11. Davis threw a 1-2 breaking pitch to leadoff batter Antonio Whitfield, and he drilled it into left for his third hit. Whitfield moved to second on a bunt.

Davis sent another pinch-hitter back to the dugout on a three-pitch strikeout but walked Brad Jones to bring up the top of the order.

Then, horror of horrors, Davis dropped the ball while on the mound for a balk. That put two runners in scoring position, and Wayne was one hit from going home a loser.

Bryce Grady fell behind 1-2, fouled off two pitches and then seemed to go for a very high fastball that hit the umpire's mask. He was called out on appeal, and Wayne had survived its second straight extra-inning game.

Davis and Charles B. Aycock teammate Grant Sasser shared the mound duties. Sasser went the first five, allowing an unearnd run in the fourth. Davis retired the first 10 batters he faced until Whitfield's single in the tenth. The UNC signee struck out ten and walked one.

The other Post 11 run came in the second. Dave Overman reached on a two-out infield hit, went to third on an errant pickoff throw and scored on a Chad Gurley hit to left.

Wayne...ab..r..h..bi............Kinston...ab..r..h..bi
Edgerton..lf..5...0...0...0............. Grady..2b..5...0...0...0
Gourley..ss..3...0...1...0............... Spence..rf..1...0...0...0
Massey..rf..5...0...1...0................ Manning..rf..2...0...0..0
Wooten..1b..2...0...1...0 ...............Rouse..lf..4...0...0..0
Rose..dh..4...0...0...0.................... Ginn..3b..4...1...0...0
Casey..pr..0...1...0...0.................. Smith..c..4...0...0...0
Wright..c..2...0...0...0.................. Whitfield..cf..4...0...3...0
Ham..c..1...0...0...0...................... Williams..ss..2...0...1...0
Lancaster..cf..3...0...0...0............. Croom..ph..0...0...0...0
Overman..3b,2b..4...1...1...0....... Bass..dh..3...0...0...0
Gurley..2b..2...0...1...0................. Killette..ph..1...0...0...0
Allen..ph..1...0...0...0.................... Jones..1b..3...0...1...0
Pilkingon..3b..0...0...0............................... ____________
__________............................. 33...1...5...1
.......................32...2...5...1

Wayne...........010 000 000 1 - 2..5..2
Kinston..........000 100 000 0 - 1..5..3

E-Gurley 2, Sutton 2, Williams. DP-Wayne 2, Kinston 1. LOB-Wayne 3, Kinston 6.
CS-Lancaster. S-Croom.

...........................IP..H..R..ER..BB..SO
Wayne
Sasser...............5...4...1...0...1...3
Davis........(W)..5...1...0...0...1...10
Kinston
Sutton..............7...5...1...0...4...7
Pope.................2...0...0...0...2...5
Dudding......(L)1...0...1...1...1...0
Bk-Davis. HBP-Wright (by Sutton), Wiliams (by Sasser), Lancaster (by Sutton), Lancaster
(by Sutton), Ham (by Dudding.)