Wayne Completes Historic Run

It was a little too close for comfort at the end, but Wayne County Post 11 is headed to the American Legion state tournament as the top team in Area I.

Brandon Price pitched seven brilliant innings, and Wayne survived a late grandslam to get past Durham Post 7 Friday night 7-6 at the Durham Athletic Park and cap an unprecedented ten-game run through the Area I playoffs. No Post 11 team has ever gone this far in the postseason without losing.

Wayne (23-4) will play Area IV runnerup Caldwell County, 28-11, Wednesday afternoon at 12:30 in the first round of the state tournament at Garner High School.

Wayne had scored in five different innings to build a comfortable 7-1 lead going into the ninth. Sterling Grice took over for Price in the eighth, retiring the side in order. He struck out the first batter in the ninth and appeared on his way to an easy finish.

But then things began to get interesting.

Nick Mangini doubled and scored on a hit by Tarron Robinson. Seth Moorman flied to left on a 2-0 fastball for the second out. Cameron Falcon also singled. Pinch hitter Tyler Robinson fell behind in the count 1-2 but fought back to walk and load the bases.

One pitch later, the tying run was at the plate, as Patrick Kerwin drilled a fastball to left. The ball hugged the line and stayed fair to get Durham within one.

And that was it for Grice. Grant Sasser got the call to shut down the rally.

Sasser fell behind Levi Diala 2-0, almost hitting him in the process. The count went to 3-1 before Sasser fired a called strike. Then he threw a fastball past Diala to end the comeback.

While Durham made it close at the end, most of the night belonged to the player who was the winning pitcher in Charles B. Aycock's 3-A state title-clinching game.

The Wayne offense staked Price to a lead in the first on John Wooten's two-run triple to center. Durham appreared to be on the way to getting one of those runs back when leadoff batter Lucas Martin doubled off the fence in center. But a relay from Garrett Davis to shortstop Walker Gourley cut down Martin at third. Jacob Ezzell followed with another double but was stranded at third.

A second-inning double by Cameron Falcon and an RBI single by Barrett Stover made it 2-1. And that would be the last damage Durham would do against Price. The next batter hit into an inning-ending double play, and Price would retire the side in the next three innings as well as 16 of the final 18 batters he faced.

He threw 89 pitches, 62 for strikes, and didn't walk anyone. In addition, he went to three balls on four of the 25 batters he faced.

While Price was keeping the opposition at bay, the Post 11 offense was slowly extending the lead. Jay Rose hit an opposite-field home run to left to begin the fourth. In the fifth, Noah Lancaster reached on a leadoff infield hit and continued to third on the throwing error. He scored on a grounder by Jackson Massey.

Wayne made it 6-1 in the sixth. Thomas Pilkington had a leadoff single, and Tyler Ham walked. The next two batters struck out, but Massey also walked to load the bases. Gourley drilled the next pitch up the middle for a two-run single.

Ham's RBI single in the seventh gave Wayne its biggest lead.

Wayne..AB..R..H..BI...........Durham..AB..R..H..BI
Massey rf-cf..3..1..0..1........Martin cf..4..0..1..0
Gourley ss..5..0..2..2...........Ezzell 2b-p-rf..4..0..2..0
Davis cf..5..1..0..0................Mangini c..4..1..1..0
Casey rf..0..0..0..0...............Robinson 1b..4..1..1..1
Wooten 1b..4..1..2..2........... Moorman dh-3b..4..0..0..0
Rose dh..5..1..1..1.................Falcon 3b-2b..4..2..3..0
Pilkington 3b..4..1..1..0........Stover rf..3..0..1..1
Ham c..3..1..1..1....................Schlitz p-rf..0..0..0..0
Narron 2b..2..0..0..0............Robinson ph..0..1..0..0
Gurley 2b..1..0..0..0.............Kerwin ss..4..1..1..4
Lancaster lf..3..1..1..0...........Diala lf..4..0..0..0
Edgerton lf..1..0..0..0............................______
........................._____............................35..6..10..6
..........................36..7..8..7

Wayne...200...112...1.. - 7..8..0
Durham..010...000...005 - 6..10..4

E-Robinson, Kerwin, Falcon, Madden. DP-Wayne 1, Durham 1.
LOB-Wayne 8, Durham 3.
2B-Martin, Ezzell, Falcon, Mangini. 3B-Wooten. HR-Rose
SB-Massey, Gourley 2, Narron. CS-Pilkington.

Wayne....IP..H..R..ER..BB..SO
Price (W)..7..6..1..1..0..3
Grice...... 1 2/3..4..5..5..1..2
Sasser(S)...1/3..0..0..0..0..1
Durham
Madden (L)5..4..4..3..2..4
Ezzell...........3..4..3..2..3..4
Schlitz..........1..0..0..0..0..1
WP-Ezzell. Bk-Ezzell. HBP- Narron (by Ezzell).