Wayne Holds On To Lead in Ninth To Take Area I Opener

Box is here. Almost forgot to post the season stats.

Other playoff news: Cherryville trailed Pineville 6-0 before coming back to win 19-8 to take the Area IV title. Cherryville (39-6) will play Wilmington (19-13) in the 4:30 game on Tuesday, and Hope Mills will face Gastonia in the nightcap. Pineville (30-9) stays home because Gastonia gets the other spot.
Rowan (31-12) defeated Randolph (33-9) 7-3 to even the Area III series at a game apiece.

The 50/50 pot at the Randolph/Rowan game tonight was a measly $434.

Wayne County took a 9-4 lead into the ninth inning against Clayton Post 71 in the opening game of the Area I title series at Smithfield-Selma High School Tuesday night. Post 11 coach Brad Reaves then turned to Jay Rose, his fourth pitcher of the game.

And why not? Since closing some of Wayne's games late in 2007 , Rose has been quietly effective. He entered the Clayton series having allowed three runs in 17 1/3 innings. But as Reaves said after the game, Rose "was due for one of these."

Clayton (18-10) pushed Rose to the limit and put the potential winning run on first before Wayne survived to win 9-7 and head back to Southern Wayne High School tonight in what will be its last home game of the season. A Post 11 win would clinch the best-of-three series and put the team in the second game of the state tournament in Gastonia on Tuesday.

Wayne (23-5) scored twice in the sixth to snap a tie game, then added runs in the eighth and ninth to take what appeared to be a comfortable lead into the last inning. Reliever Jesse Randolph threw three scoreless innings and John Wooten added one before Rose took over.

Then it got really interesting.

Rose issued Wayne's first walk to leadoff batter Evan Harbinson. Drew Alford hit the first pitch to left for a home run, his second of the evening. Rose struck out the next batter on a called breaking pitch, but Brian Mills singled to center. Blake Murray fell behind 1-2 but hung in there for a walk, and Clayton brought the tying run to the plate.

Kyle Cummings, who relieved starter Justin Diener in the sixth, hit a groundball single to center to load the bases. Colin Parker punched a 1-2 curveball to shallow right for a run, and the tying runs were in scoring position. Rose got ahead of Diener 0-2 and got a grounder to third, resulting in a force out at the plate. He ran the count on Jeff Citero to 2-2, then fanned him on a called curveball to end the game.

Clayton had a 3-2 edge in home runs as both teams took advantage of the small ball park and won the hit battle 13-11 but hurt itself with seven errors.

Wayne, which never trailed, took a two-run lead in the first. Tyler Edwards had a leadoff single and Wooten reached on a one-out error. Both advanced on a passed ball. Rose singled to right for a run, and Wooten scored when the right fielder airmailed the ball to the fence.

Post 11 starter Michael Douglas retired the first two batters in the first before a single and a two-out error gave Cummings a chance to drive in run with a hit to center. Clayton tied it in the second on a home run by Harbinson.

Wooten answered for Wayne in the third with his ninth home run of the season. An inning later, Nolan Lancaster walked with two outs, went to third on a hit by Adron Hollowell and scored when the catcher's pickoff throw hit him in the head and bounced into foul territory.

Douglas set down the first two batters in the fourth but gave up a double to Harbinson. Alford fell behind 1-2 but drilled a fastball just over the short left field fence to against tie it.

In the sixth, Rose singled up the middle on a bad hop. Zach Wright was hit by a pitch, and Thomas Pilkington moved the runners with a bunt. Rose scored on a wild pitch. Lancaster hit a bouncer on the first base side of the infield. The pitcher failed to cover the bag, and Lancaster was safe with a hit as Wright scored. Wayne seemed poised to take advantage of the lapse as Lancaster raced to third on Hollowell's hit to center. But he was caught off the base on Alex Casey's push bunt to first, and a fly ball ended the inning.

Wayne scored in the eighth with the aid of two errors. Wooten homered with one out in the ninth on a 1-2 pitch, and Rose was hit by a pitch. He came all the way home when the left fielder wasn't able to field Wright's sinking liner.