Wayne Exits State Tournament

Box is here. Final stats will come later today. I will also have a few thoughts about the end of the season.

Wayne County Post 11 coach Brad Reaves was concerned that this year's team would have a difficult time making the playoffs. Instead, it won the Area I East championship and a berth in the North Carolina American Legion state tournament.

Unfortunately for this overachieving team, its stay in Gastonia was a brief one.

Gastonia Post 23, which entered the tournament with eight wins and was playing only because of its role as the host team, rallied from a five-run deficit and ousted Wayne 9-8 at Sims Legion Field Wednesday afternoon. It was the first time in five appearances that Wayne (24-8) did not win a game in the double-elimination event.

Wayne seemed to be in good shape after scoring five runs in the third to take a 7-2 lead. The offense, which was limited to five runners in Tuesday's 9-1 loss to Rowan County, banged out nine hits in the first three innings.

Post 11 starter Adron Hollowell gave up a two-run homer in the first but held Gastonia scoreless over the next three innings. Then everything blew up in Wayne's face in the fifth.

It all started when right fielder Alex Casey couldn't make a diving catch of Trey Ferry's liner, resulting in a triple. Hollowell struck out the next batter before Preston Lyon singled home a run. He gave up three more hits, including a two-run single to Matt Crisp before departing the mound. At that point, Wayne still led 7-5 with runners on second and third.

Josh Ghurley doubled off reliever Taylor Allen to tie it. Allen got ahead of Tony Ayers 0-2 only to have him slap the ball through the left side of the infield to give Gastonia the lead. After a fly ball for the second out, Ferry came through again with an RBI single to right. Post 11 needed 39 pitches to get out of the inning.

"They just strung all those hits together," Reaves said of the rally. "We misplayed that one line drive. That was the hit that got it started. A lot of those hits were with two strikes. We just didn't put anybody away. We couldn't make a pitch.

"There were a couple of little flares, too. There was a flare where I brought the infield halfway and if I don't do that....You're darned if you do and darned if you don't."

Wayne still had plenty of time to come back and did pick up a run in the sixth. Bryant Hill drew a lead off walk and stole second. He moved to third on a fly ball and scored on a ground out by Tyler Edwards.

That would be it for the Wayne offense, as it got only two runners over the final three innings. Gastonia mounted a threat in the seventh with a two-out single and double, but Allen retired the next batter on a ground out to end the inning.

Reaves still had confidence that the offense would erase the deficit. "I still thought we would fight back from that. Taylor did a good job of keeping us there. But I think we were exposed a little bit in our pitching and inexperience.

"Normally, we have so many pitchers on the bench that I can get somebody up and ready. This year, two of our better ones are in the field."

But he added, "We got some big pitching performances lately that got us where we are."

Tyler Edwards got Wayne going in the first with a misjudged double over the head of the left fielder. John Wooten singled him home. Wooten stole second and scored on Jay Rose's hit to center.

Gastonia tied it in the home first on an error and a two-out home run by Brandon Harris after he fell behind in the count 0-2.

Wayne put together its big inning in the third. Walker Gourley doubled to center to start things and scored on Wooten's second hit. He came around to score on the same play on a pair of throwing errors in the infield. Gastonia starter Matt Crisp retired the next two batters but kept the inning alive with a throwing error on Thomas Pilkington's ground ball to the mound.

Nolan Lancaster walked after starting off 0-2. Hill singled to left, and Pilkington came home on another throwing error. Lancaster and Hill worked a double steal, and Casey singled to right to give Wayne a 7-2 lead.

Wayne lost five runners on the bases, and most of those were highly questionable calls, especially the one in the fifth inning. Rose had a lead off single and advanced to second on a grounder. Nolan Lancaster singled to center with two out, and Rose was thrown out at the plate. "We're safe there, too," Reaves insisted. "That play was not even close. I don't think it was close, and I don't think anybody else did either."

Wayne loses its starting outfield in Hollowell, Lancaster and Casey. First baseman Pilkington also ages out. Jesse Randolph is the only loss among the frequently used pitchers.

The 2009 state tournament will be held at East Carolina.