Wayne Rolls Into Sunday

Another big game, and another big-time performance from Brandon Price.

The Wayne County Post 11 righthander fought his way through eight strong innings against a powerful offense while his teammates continued to punish opposition pitchers as Wayne defeated Cherryville Post 100 10-5 Saturday night in the American Legion state tournament in Garner.

Three teams are left in the quest for the title. Wayne will square off with Caldwell County Post 29 Sunday afternoon at one. The winner will face Cherryville for the championship around 4:30.
Since being held to a season-low three hits in the first game, Wayne has been a tear offensively, scoring 38 runs in its three wins. The pitchers have been equally effective, allowing four earned runs and walking three.

Price has been a model of consistency when it has counted the most. He's allowed two earned runs in his last 20 innings. And just when it seemed he was out of gas, he went into his reserve tank to get out of one more jam.

He took what seemed to be a comfortable 8-3 lead into the eighth and was on the verge of ending his night after retiring the first two batters. At that point, he had thrown 106 pitches, close to what Post 11 coach Brad Reaves gives his pitchers.

But Cherryville's potent lineup was not to be gotten out this easy. Cleanup hitter Paul Finger drilled a 2-0 fastball to left for a double. Jake Watts doubled him home and scored on Chris Henderson's single through the left side.

Then things got even dicier as Shane Richard's grounder was misplayed for an error to bring the tying run to the plate.

Reaves went to the mound, had a talk with Price and left him in. Price, an excellent fielder, rewarded his coach by snagging Nate Wright's ground ball up the middle for the last out.

Then came what may have been the emotionally back-breaking ninth. Pinch hitter Thomas Pilkington singled to open the inning. One out later, Tyler Ham caught a fastball and lined over the right field fence for his first home run of the season.

Jay Rose, who has appeared on the mound in all the tournament games, pitched a perfect ninth.

Cherryville struck first for two unearned runs in the second. Watts reached when his fly ball to left was dropped. Henderson singled him to third, and Richard walked. Watts scored on a wild pitch and Nate Wright hit a sacrifice fly.

Philip Russ, a soft-throwing lefty, got the starting nod for Cherryville as Post 100 saved Henderson for Sunday. Wayne left runners in scoring position in the first two innings before breaking through in the third.

Conner Narron was hit by a pitch to begin the inning. Noah Lancaster was safe on an infield hit to short, and Jackson Massey continued to be clutch with an RBI single up the middle to put runners on the corners. He took second on the throw.

But Wayne ran itself out of the inning. Walker Gourley hit a grounder to short, and Massey broke for third. He was out in a rundown. Gourley tried for second but failed to beat the throw. A strikeout ended the inning.

Cherryville went down in order in the third, and Wayne took the lead for good in the fourth, sending Russ from the game.

John Wooten doubled over the head of the centerfielder. Rose, the opposite-field specialist, doubled over the leftfielder for a run. Ham hit a screamer to the second baseman. He couldn't handle it, and Rose came home.

Cherryville rebounded in the fourth and seemed on the verge of tying it, but a base running blunder negated that. Finger had a lead off single. Watts hit smashed a 3-1 fastball to center, and Garrett Davis ran into a fence post, temporarily stunning him. He recovered and fired the ball to third. Watts beat the throw but tried to hold the bag without sliding. He was tagged out. The next batter hit what would have been a sacrifice fly to right.

Cherryville again threatened in the fifth, but Price rose to the occasion. Tripp McSwan singled and Trey Blake doubled with one out. Price went to a full count on Payden Houser, then struck him out on a breaking pitch. He got the next batter on a grounder.

Wayne added a run in the seventh against reliever Cory Parks. Gourley was hit by a pitch, went to second after Davis' grounder was misplayed, stole third and scored on a wild pitch.

The eighth saw Wayne go wild on the bases. Narron reached on a two-out fielder's choice and stole second and third. Lancaster singled him home and stole second.

Massey walked, and then Wayne's speed came into play as Lancaster raced home on Gourley's roller up the first base line. Davis singled through the right side to give Post 11 a five-run lead. Davis stole second, but the runners were stranded there.

Wayne AB..R..h..BI...............Cherryville AB..R..H..BI
Massey rf..4..1..1..1................Blake ss..5..0..1..0
Gourley ss..4..1..2..2..............Houser cf..5..0..0..0
Davis cf.5..0..1..1....................Hoyle 1b..4..0..0..0
Wooten 3b..5..1..1..0..............Finger 3b..4..2..2..0
ZWright dh..4..0..0..0.............Watts rf..4..2..2..2
Pilkington dh..1..1..1..0..........Henderson c..4..1..2..1
Rose 1b-p..5.1..2..1.................Richard lf..2..0..0..0
Ham c..5..1..2..2.......................NWright..3..0..0..1
Narron 2b..3..2..0..0...............McSwain 2b..4..0..1..0
Lancaster lf..5..2..2..1.................................______
......................______..................................35..5..6..4
.......................41..10..12..8

Wayne.........002...200...132 - 10..12..2
Cherryville..020...100...020 - 5..6..4

E-Blake, Lancaster, Finger, McSwain 2, Wooten. LOB-Wayne 9,
Cherryville 6.
2B-Wooten, Rose, Ham, Blake, Finger, Watts. 3B-Watts. HR-Ham
SB-Massey, Lancaster 2, Davis 3, Gourley, Narron 2. SF-Wright.

Wayne..........IP..H..R..ER..BB..SO
Price (W)......8..8..5..2..2..6
Rose..............1..0..0..0..0..1
Cherryville
Russ (L)......3 1/3..4..4..3..1..2
Parks...........3 2/3..2..1..0..0..5
Haynes..........2..6..5..5..1..2
WP-Price, Parks. HBP-Narron (by Russ), Gourley (by Parks),
Narron (by Haynes.)