Wayne Holds Off Kinston

Box Two Game Totals

Kinston Post 43 didn't have its ace on the mound against Wayne County Post 11 Tuesday night at Mount Olive College in the teams' second meeting of the young American Legion season. That made all the difference in the outcome.

The youth-laden Wayne lineup, which had struggled offensively in the first two games, came to life with 16 hits and held off a last-inning rally to win 8-6. Post 11 evened its Area One East South Division record at 1-1 and improve its overall mark to 2-1. Wayne will travel to Apex High School tonight for a meeting with Area One West opponent Apex.

Kinston's Carter Capps threw a complete game in leading his team to a 4-3 win three days earlier at home. This time the starting nod went to Kaleb Wessell, and the Post 11 batters had a much more productive night against him. Wessell allowed ten hits in five innings.

Wayne seemed to have the game under control with five-run lead going into the ninth. Matt Neal was working on his third inning, having given up only two walks. Things quickly took a turn for the worse.

He walked leadoff batter Jasper Jones and gave up a single to Dejuan Gray. He retired next two batters, but Lee Taylor singled to center, and the ball was misplayed to score two runs. An RBI single by Mike Wetherington brought the tying run to the plate. Neal walked Capps and went 2-2 on Jacob Sutton before a called third strike ended the game.

"My babies are growing up," said a pleased Post 11 coach Brad Reaves after the game. "We had much better plate appearances tonight."

After spotting Kinston a run in the first, Wayne tied it in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Scott Holloman, the first of his three hits. Neal was hit by a pitch in the third and later scored on a throwing error to give his team the lead for good.

Nick McGee lined a hit off the pitcher to open the fourth, stole second and scored on a ground ball single up the middle by Cody Richards. He came home on a two-out hit by Kevin Wise.

Wayne aded two more in the fifth. Holloman singled and advanced to third on a double by McGee down the right field line. After a strikeout, Keenan Winn hit an 0-2 fastball to center for a two-run single and a 6-1 lead.

Post 11 started Taylor Allen pitched five solid innings but couldn't make it out of the sixth after giving up two singles and a double as well hitting one batter. Still, Reaves was happy with what he got from the right-hander: three runs and eight hits allowed.

"He hadn't pitched since October," said Reaves. "I was hoping for four innings. He hit a wall in the fifth. He'll get stronger." Allen needed only 64 pitches to get through the first five innings.

Jesse Randolph took over and got Post 11 out of the inning on a sacrifice fly and strikeout. Neal relieved him in the seventh with one out and runners on the corners. He walked Trey Beamon to load the bases, but shortstop Tyler Edwards snared a shot by Lee Taylor and started a inning-ending twin-killer.

Wayne added what seemed to be a pair of meaningless runs in the bottom of the inning, but they would turn out to be crucial at the end. Zack Grantham singled through the right side of the infield and advanced on a bunt by McGee. Richards singled McGee to third, and Richards stole second. Keenan Winn drove in a run with a grounder, and Richards scored on a throwing error.

Wayne missed a chance to pad the lead in the eighth. Wise walked and Edwards bunted down the third base line for his fourth hit. Wise broke for third on a 2-0 pitch, but Neal's liner to center rusulted in doubling up Wise as second.