Wayne Drops Tourney Opener

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For the second straight year, Wayne County laid an egg in the first round of the North Carolina American Legion state tournament.

Tanner Brown allowed five base runners over seven innings and his teammates backed him with 19 hits as Rowan County rolled to a 9-1 win over Post 11 Tuesday afternoon at Sims Legion Field in Gastonia.

Wayne lost its opener in 2007 11-1 but rebounded to win four straight games before falling to Cherryville in the championship. This year, the road might be toughter. Wayne is a bit stronger offensively; however, it won't have the veteran pitching staff that got the team to the final day.

Post 11 will face Gastonia, a 7-2 loser to Hope Mills, at 12:30 Wednesday afternoon.

While there might not be a turning point in an eight-run loss, Wayne certainly had the wind taken out of its sails in the sixth. Rowan had just scored two runs to go ahead 4-0, but Post 11 had some of its big guns coming to the plate.

Alex Casey, who has been a major contributor in the postseason, lined out to second to start the inning. But Tyler Edwards drilled a breaking pitch into the left field corner for a double. Walker Gourley walked, and Post 11 appeared to be coming out of its offensive doldrums. Next up was the hottest hitter on the team: John Wooten and his seven playoff home runs. One swing of the bat had the potential to get Wayne back into the thick of it.

It was not to be. Wooten took the first pitch for a ball, and Brown came back with a fastball. Wooten grounded to second and the Rowan middle infielders put the clamps on a Wayne rally with an inning-ending double play.

"I thought that was the key to the game," Rowan coach Jim Gantt said. "I thought that changed the game right there.

"Tanner went at people and kept it down. They hit some balls hard, but they just hit them right to people. He pitches to the defense and lets them work."

Wayne was able to avoid being blanked when Cambric Moye homered with one out in the seventh. It was the last of Wayne's four hits.

When asked what made Brown so effective, Wayne coach Brad Reaves pondered the question, then said, "He threw strikes."

That he did. The right-hander breezed through the Post 11 lineup relying primarily on a well-located fastball. He threw first-pitch strikes to 20 of the 25 batters he faced and needed only 76 pitches before turning over the rest of the game to a pair of relievers. They added ten-pitch innings for a total of 96. The two Wayne hurlers threw 163.

The game moved quickly with only two walks, no wild pitches and no hit batters.

Rowan scored an unearned run in the first with the aid of a dropped fly ball, then added another run in the third on a home run by Trey Holmes off a 3-2 fastball.

Post 11 starter Michael Douglas kept Wayne close for five innings, and got out of a fifth-inning jam after the first two battters reached on hits, but couldn't make it out of the sixth.

Zach Smith singled with one out and went to third on a hit-and-run single by Billy Veal. D.C. Cranford drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and Douglass was looking to get out of the inning without further damage. Austin Shull spoiled that with a double to left, and Justin Roland singled through the right side of the infield for a run and the end of Douglas.

The Rowan bats didn't let up the next inning against reliever Jesse Randolph. Noah Holmes followed two singles with a first-pitch home run to center field to make it 7-0.

Rowan added two in eighth.

The trio of Rowan relievers limited Wayne to five base runners, its lowest production of the season.

"You're not going to win if you don't get but four hits," Reaves said. "That's not typical of our offense. Michael kept us in it early, and we just couldn't scratch.

"You can't win scoring one run in Legion baseball."