Wayne Moves Into First Place Tie

Grant Sasser couldn't get it going on the mound Monday night at Mount Olive College againt Pitt County, but his teammates more than made up for it at the plate.

Wayne County Post 11 rallied past Pitt County Post 160 11-8 to move into a first-place tie with New Bern in the Area I East South Division standings. Wayne (5-2, 11-2) remains at home tonight against Kinston.

Sasser, who will attend NC State, has been putting in a lot of time working with the Wolfpack coaches. This was only his second appearance of the season. He started well enough, retiring the side in order in the first, but ran into trouble in the second

Sasser allowed hits on 2-0 and 3-1 counts, then hit a batter to load the bases. Heath Glidewell doubled home two runs before a suicide squeeze attempt failed. Another hit made it 3-0.

Wayne got two of those runs back in the first with the help of a first and third double steal by Jackson Massey and Walker Gourley. Garrett Davis drove in Massey in the third to tie it.

Sasser set PItt down in order in the third but was unable to get out of the fourth and left after giving up a one-out, two-run single to Spencer Fagan. Sterling Grice replaced him and allowed one earned run through the seventh despite struggling at times.

While Pitt was having difficulty converting runners into runs, Wayne took the lead with a five-run fifth. Massey drew a leadoff walk, and Gourley was hit by a pitch. John Wooten lined a breaking pitch into the left filed corner to put Wayne ahead for good. One out later, Wayne strung together run-scoeing hits by Thomas Pilkington, Tyler Ham and Will edgerton to make it 8-5.

The sixth saw an unusual scene: back-to-back intentional passes. Massey singled to start the inning and stole second. He held on a grounder, and Pitt put Davis, batting .611 going into the game, on first. After Davis stole second, Wooten also got a free pass to first. Wayne managed two runs out of it on a sacrifice fly by Jay Rose and Pilkington's single.

That gave Wayne a five-run cushion, but Pitt kept things interesting on Heath Glidewell's two-run homer in the seventh and a leadoff round-tripper in the eighth by Logan Hessert.

Davis fanned two of the three batters he faced in the ninth to bring his total to 15 in 72/3 innings.

Pitt....AB..R..H..BI......................Wayne....AB..R..H..BI
Fagan..p...3..0..2..3.....................Massey..rf..3..4..3.0..0
Rasberry..p....0..0..0..0..............Gourley..ss..4..2..1..0
Avery..ph..1..0..0..0....................Davis..cf-p..4..1..1..1
Conrad..2b..1..0..0..0..................Wooten..1b-p..4..1..1..3
Hessert..2b-p..4..1..2..1..............Rose..dh-1b..4..1..1..1
Mizelle..ss..5..0..0..0...................Pilkington..3b..4..1..2..2
Walling..1b..5..1..1..0...................Ham..c..4..1..2..2
Sneed..rf..5..1..3..o.......................Lancaster..lf..1..0..0..0
Sharpe..3b..4..1..0..0...................Edgerton..lf..4..0..3..1
Glidewell..lf..5..3..3..4..................Gurley..2b..1..0..0..0
Worthington..c..4..1..0..0............Narron..2b..3..0..0..0
Puglisi..cf..2..0..1..0....................................__________
.............___________...............................36..11..14..10
................39..8..12..8

Pitt...030...200..210 - 8..12..1
Wayne...201...052...01X - 11..14..2

E-Worthington, Gourley, Pilkington. LOB-Pitt 10, Wayne 9.
2B-Glidewell, Ham, Wooten, Sneed. 3B-Edgerton, Rose. HR-Glidewell, Hessert.
SB-Massey 4, Gourley 2, Davis, Pilkington, Sneed. CS-Fagan, Pilkington. SF-Rose.

Pitt...IP..H..R..ER..BB..SO........Wayne
Fagan(L)..4 2/3..8..8..7..3..4....Sasser..3 1/3..6..5..4..2..3
Rasberry..1/3..1..0..0..0..0......Grice....3 1/3..4..2..12..0
Hessert..3..5..3..3..3..0..............Wooten..1..2..2..1..0..0
......................................................Davis..1..0..0..0..0..2
WP-Sasser. HBP-Sharpe (by Sasser), Gourley (by Fagan),
Worthington (by Grice).