Two down, one to go for Post 11

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on July 22, 2004 1:55 PM

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WILSON -- One error turned the tide -- again.

A sixth-inning bobble sparked a three-run uprising and ignited yet another late-inning rally for Wayne County Post 11 on Wednesday.

And just as it did Tuesday evening at home, visiting Post 11 capitalized on the miscue.

Wayne County sent 29 batters to the plate in the final four innings combined and dumped Wilson Post 13 by a 13-3 count at Fleming Stadium. Post 11 took a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five Area I East Division championship series.

Game three is tonight at 7 o'clock at Scarborough Field.

"Errors, errors, errors," said Wilson coach Rusty Dail, who removed his hat and scratched his forehead. "We're coming out and playing hard, but we just can't make the play.

"If you make errors against a team like this, they're going to capitalize."

Wilson appeared in cruise control through the first five innings.

Left-hander Taylor Southerland limited Post 11 to a single hit and benefited from a second-inning double play. Wayne County left four runners on base, including two in scoring position, and wasted two potential scoring opportunities.

Meanwhile, offensively, Post 13 roughed up left-hander Adam Williams for three runs (all earned) on seven hits. Williams struggled to retire batters with two strikes in the count.

"He didn't hit his spots," Post 11 coach Brad Reaves said. "I think the problem is we're trying to be too fine. We went 0-2 and 1-2 to I don't know how many hitters and ended up going full count. We need to put them away early in the count.

"You could sense it when we walked out here. There was no focus whatsoever."

Post 13 began sensing its third home playoff victory without a loss.

Until the sixth inning.

Jes Snyder hit a hard grounder to short and the ball bounced off the defender into left field. Southerland walked Erik Lovett and yielded an infield bunt single to Todd MacCoy.

Austin Hood followed with another hard-hit grounder to the shortstop, who misplayed it. The ball rolled into deep left-field territory and all three runners scored for the 3-3 tie.

"That was a tough play for him to get an out on," Reaves said. "Good teams take advantage of other teams' mistakes, and we did. It's like what you hear about sharks. Once they smell blood, it's on."

Wilson quickly depleted its pitching staff in the final four innings. Wayne County tallied 13 runs, including the sixth, on nine hits and three Post 13 errors.

David Combs doubled twice, while Garrett Sutton and Hood each doubled once. Jesse Lancaster plated two runs on base hits in the seventh and ninth innings. Snyder, Sutton and Todd MacCoy each collected an RBI during the four-inning outburst.

Wayne County finished with 10 hits overall. Six starters had at least one hit in the three-hour marathon.

"It's frustrating. We've been through it all year," said Dail, who used six pitchers in the game. "We've been playing good (but) we're making errors at the wrong time of the year."

Wilson couldn't generate any offense once Williams left the game.

Mike Oglesby (2-1) threw a shutout the final six innings and earned his first playoff victory. The right-hander surrendered five hits, struck out three and became the fifth pitcher to pick up a win in the postseason.

Reaves said Oglesby was Post 11's shark.

"He went out and got them, didn't he?" Reaves said. "We were going to throw him yesterday (Tuesday) and he said he was tender. He ran this morning and tonight he had good life on his fastball, his curveball was sharp and he hit his spots.

"David (Combs) said 'Coach, he's just eating them up hitting spots all night.' He let us play."

Wilson hit 12 balls to the right side that resulted in either fielder's choices or ground outs in the last six innings. Snyder and Airlon Vinson turned a game-ending double play, giving Wayne County its seventh road win of the season in 11 tries.

The late-game rally pleased Reaves, but he said the team has to play from first to last pitch in order to continue its postseason success.

"I'm scared it's going to end up biting us, by not starting on somebody and trying to put them away," Reaves said. "I want to see us play nine innings one time to see what we really can do."

2004 Area I East Division

Championship

Series -- Best-of-5

(at Fleming Stadium, Wilson)

Game 2

Wayne County 000 003 424 -- 13 10 0

Wilson 030 000 000 -- 3 12 4

Leading hitters -- Wayne County -- Jesse Lancaster 2-5, 2 RBI; Todd MacCoy 2-4, RBI; Austin Hood 2-4, 2B; Airlon Vinson 1-2; David Combs 2-4, 2 2Bs; Garrett Sutton 1-5, 2B, RBI. Wilson -- Justin Batts 4-4; David Bunn 2-4, RBI; Jon Proctor 2-4, 2 RBI; Lee Hawkins 2-4.

DP -- Wayne County 2, Wilson 1. LOB -- Wayne County 8, Wilson 9. SB -- Lancaster, Sutton. CS -- Vinson.

IP H R ER BB SO

Wayne County Post 11

Williams 3 7 3 3 1 1

Oglesby (W, 2-1) 6 5 0 0 0 3

Wilson Post 13

Southerland 5 1 2 0 4 3

Bardin (L) 1 2/3 5 5 2 2 3

Skinner 1/3 2 2 2 0 1

Godwin 1 1 3 3 0 3

Corbett 1/3 1 1 1 1 0

Hawkins 2/3 0 0 0 0 0

WP -- Godwin 2. HBP -- MacCoy (by Southerland); Vinson (by Bardin). PB -- Bunn.