Wayne Rolls to Berth in State Tournament

Box is here. Season totals are here.

I'll add some quotes tomorrow, but I'm headed to Georgia for a tournament. I hope I can keep the car between the ditches tonight.

Update: The car didn't go in the ditch, but my game did.

There was no doubt about this one.

After two contests in which the pitching had to carry the offense, both showed up in full force for Wayne County Saturday night in the Area I East title series at Mount Olive College. As a result, Post 11 is headed to Gastonia.

John Wooten banged out four hits and drove in four runs as Wayne overwhelmed New Bern Post 24 15-1 to swept the best-of-five series and book a place in the American Legion state tournament August 4. Post 11 will face the winner of the Clayton-Durham series in a three-game series to determine the Area I title.

Wayne used three big scoring runs to end the game in seven innings and improve its record to 22-5. In the second, Jay Rose singled to start the inning, and Nolan Lancaster was hit by a pitch with one out. Adron Hollowell walked, and Alex Casey singled through the left side of the infield for two runs. After a two-out walk to Walker Gourley, Wooten drove in two runs with a hit to right.

Wayne put together another big inning in the fourth. Thomas Pilkington followed an intentional pass to Rose with a two-run hit to right as part of the five-run inning for a 9-0 lead.

Post 11 put it away in the sixth with six more runs. Tyler Edward drove in two runs and Wooten had a two-run double. Rose added a run-scoring two-bagger.

Taylor Allen picked up the win with six solid innings. He allowed five hits and walked two to pick up his sixth win and tie Michael Douglas for the lead in that category.