Wayne Begins Crucial Stretch with Win

Box Season Totals

Totals later this morning. Several extra features are in the box starting with this game: BA with runners in scoring position, percentage of runners scored from third with less than two out and percentage of runners scored. GB% is the percentage of batted balls that hit landed in the infield.

The Wayne County American Legion baseball team hasn't seen much action this season, but that's about to change.

Post 11, which had played a mere seven games in a schedule that was slated to start May 21, kicked off the stretch run of the regular season with a 7-3 win over non-league opponent Clayton at Mount Olive College Friday night. Wayne (2-1, 5-3)will travel to New Bern tonight for an Area I East South match up. The schedule, including the Clayton game, calls for eight games in nine days. The playoffs begin July 1.

Wayne broke open a one-run game with four in the eight but had to withstand a tense ninth in which Clayton loaded the bases and brought the tying run to the plate. ECU signee John Wooten, in his first Legion game this season, started the eighth with a hit off the glove of the first baseman. Zack Mozingo dropped a single into shallow right field, and Matt Neal reached when his bunt to the pitcher was thrown away to load the bases. Robert Faucette sent everyone home with a shot to the left center field gap. He went to third on a single by Cody Richard but was out at home when he attempted to score on a fly ball to right. Kevin Wise put Post 11 ahead by four with a double to left.

Wayne used eight pitchers as coach Brad Reaves attempted to give his staff a bit of much-needed work. It fell upon Wooten to close it, but he made things a bit too interesting in the last inning. He walked lead off batter Drew Alford. A single by Jeffrey Joyner and an outfield error put runners on second and third. Wooten lost Josh Holloman on a walk after getting ahead 1-2. That put the tying run in the on-deck circle. Wooten came back to strike out the next batter before Nate Lusk singled up the middle for one run. Alex Hadding grounded to shortstop Tyler Edwards, and he tagged second and fired to first to nip Hadding for the game-ending twin killer.

"We'd been off for a while, and they all needed a little bit of work," Reaves said of his pitchers. "We've got a big stretch coming up." Of that last inning, Reaves jokingly said of Wooten, "John does that to us sometimes. He did that a time or two last year. I think he just wanted to get some extra pitches in. He hadn't been on the mound for a little while. It was him or nothing because all I had left was a couple of ninth graders who had pitched at all."

Reaves was especially pleased with what he saw from some of his more inexperienced players." I liked those young kids at the bottom of the lineup. It seemed they made something happen all night." Wayne still has not played a game with its entire roster available. Several players were in the Triangle for the State Games, and before that Eastern Wayne was in the high school playoffs. " The chemistry's getting close, but we were missing three guys, three key guys," said Reaves. "I'll be tickled to death to see us play one game with everybody."

Clayton scored in the second on a wild pickoff throw to second after loading the bases. Wayne put two on the scoreboard in the inning. Faucette walked with one out and went to second on an infield out. Colin DuBose reached on an error with two out, and a run scored on Kevin Wise's infield hit. DuBose, who alertly went to third on the play as the ball went off the shortstop's glove, came home on a Tyler Edwards single to left. Edwards put Wayne ahead in the eighth with an RBI triple to score DuBose.

Clayton had a 19-17 advantage in base runners. Wayne lost four runners on the bases for the second straight game. It continues to have trouble in the stolen bases department, going one-for-three and is 9-for-15 for the season.