Eastern Wayne men's tennis team closer to ECC title

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 14, 2006 1:57 PM

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WILSON -- The magic number is one.

Eastern Wayne moved within one victory of claiming its first-ever Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference men's regular-season tennis championship after defeating Wilson Beddingfield 9-0 on Thursday.

The Warriors (11-2) remained perfect in eight conference outings and can clinch the title outright with a win Apr. 25 against county rival Charles B. Aycock.

Drew Ziccardi, Jared Stone, Drew Jackson, Alex Bryant, David Benton and Ben Wines each produced a straight-set singles win.

Jackson-Bryant, Ziccardi-Wines and Benton-Eric Barnes each triumphed in doubles.

Eastern Wayne 9

Wilson Beddingfield 0

Singles -- No. 1 Drew Ziccardi (EW) d. Justin Webb 6-0, 6-0; No. 2 Jared Stone (EW) d. Tony Arizpe 6-3, 6-1; No. 3 Drew Jackson (EW) d. Eduardo Picaso 6-2, 6-0; No. 4 Alex Bryant (EW) d. Frankie Mato 6-1, 6-2; No. 5 David Benton (EW) d. Ryan Phillips 6-2, 6-0; No. 6 Ben Wines (EW) d. Alex Ferrell 6-0, 6-2.

Doubles -- No. 1 Jackson-Bryant (EW) d. Picaso-Phillips 8-4; No. 2 Ziccardi-Wines (EW) d. Webb-Mato 8-1; No. 3 Benton-Eric Barnes (EW) d. Arizpe-Ferrell 8-5.

Softball

Eagles collect

home shutout

Regan Hinton and Traci Davis each banged out a pair of hits in Wayne Christian's 15-0, non-conference victory over Mt. Calvary on Thursday afternoon.

Davis doubled and tripled in four at-bats, while Hinton singled twice in four plate appearances. Carly Hightower tripled in two at-bats. Teammates Kayla Kennedy, Charity Wright and Michelle Krug each contributed one hit.

Davis yielded one hit, walked two and struck out eight Mt. Calvary batters in a complete-game effort. Officials halted the contest after four innings due to the 15-run mercy rule.

Wayne Christian, ranked No. 2 in the latest N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A poll, improved to 12-1 overall. The Eagles travel to fifth-ranked Faith Christian-Rocky Mount on Apr. 24.

Baseball

Conquerors claim

NCCSA 2-A victory

Josh Brannan and Allen Ray Darby combined for a six-hitter in Faith Christian's 8-3 conquest of Trinity Christian-Greenville on the N.C. Christian Schools Association Coastal 2-A Region scene.

Brannan yielded four hits and struck out six in a four-inning stint. Darby provided three innings of six-strikeout, two-hit relief.

T.J. Sasser led the Conquerors with two hits, while Darby doubled in three at-bats.

Faith Christian (7-3, 5-2 NCCSA) entertains Bethel Christian of Kinston at 4 p.m. Monday.

Victory Christian 000 102 0 -- 3 6 1

Faith Christian 100 250 x -- 8 5 0

Leading hitters -- Victory Christian -- Bob Haynes 2-3; Mike Moore 2-3. Faith Christian -- T.J. Sasser 2-3; Allen Ray Darby 1-3, 2B.

IP H R ER BB SO

Victory

Haynes 4 2 3 1 3 6

Horne 1 1 5 0 6 3

Moore 1 1 0 0 0 1

Faith Christian

Brannan (W, 2-1) 4 4 1 1 2 6

Darby 3 2 2 1 2 6

Eagles turn

back Mt. Calvary

Tyler Thomas and Adam Brannan combined for a four-hitter and Wayne Christian slipped past Mt. Calvary 6-4 on Thursday afternoon.

Thomas, who earned the pitching win, allowed three hits and fanned three Mt. Calvary batters in four innings of work. Brannan collected the save with three innings of one-hit, two-strikeout relief.

Jeremy Jefferson (two RBI) and Billy Smith each delivered two hits for the Eagles. Travis Thomas (two RBI), Jordan Yelverton (RBI) and Brannan (RBI) each banged out a double.

Wayne Christian (10-2) returns to action Apr. 24 at Faith Christian-Rocky Mount.

Mt. Calvary 002 100 1 -- 4 4 1

W. Christian 031 020 x -- 6 10 1

IP H R ER BB SO

Wayne Christian

Thomas (W) 4 3 3 3 4 3

Brannan (S) 3 1 1 1 2 2

Eagles escape

W. Country Day

Wayne Country Day put together a strong late-inning rally, but Rocky Mount Academy held on for an 8-7 victory in Coastal Plains Independent 1-A/2-A Conference play Thursday afternoon.

Kyle Pender, batting in the No. 8 slot, ended an 0-for-16 slump with a 2-for-3, 3-RBI outing.

"It was good to see Kyle come back around," said WCDS coach Michael Taylor.

Ryan Ford contributed two hits in three at-bats. Travis Davis homered and drove in three runs. Kevin Herring doubled home a run and Trent Langston provided a single.

The Chargers batted .333 (10-for-30) on the afternoon.

"We hit the ball well the entire day, but just couldn't find the holes at all," said Taylor. "The sixth and seventh, we started getting runs across. The guys never gave up and played hard the entire game."

Langston endured the pitching loss and surrendered five earned runs on six hits while striking out five. Davis threw four innings of five-strikeout, five-hit relief.

Wayne Country Day (7-7) travels to CPIC foe Greenfield on Apr. 25.

RM Academy 101 312 0 -- 8 11 1

W. Country Day 000 005 2 -- 7 10 1

Leading hitters -- RM Academy -- Kyle Alligood 2-4; Adam Hodges 2-4; Edward Gravely 2-3, HR. Wayne Country Day -- Ryan Ford 2-3; Kyle Pender 2-3, 3 RBI; Travis Davis 1-4, HR, 3 RBI; Kevin Herring 1-4, 2B, RBI; Trent Langston 1-3.

IP H R ER BB SO

W. Country Day

Langston 3 6 5 5 1 5

Davis 4 5 3 3 0 6

Golf

Wayne Christian

defeats Greenfield

WILSON -- Clark Rose fired a 5-over par 77 and Wayne Christian easily defeated Greenfield School 327-347 in non-conference play Thursday afternoon on the Wilson Country Club links.

Matt Davis complemented Rose's effort with an 81. Teammates Hayden Gardner and Eric Williams completed the Eagles' scoring with rounds of 83 and 86, respectively.

Greenfield's Steven Harrison claimed medalist honors with a 74.

Wayne Christian (8-3) entertains Cresset Christian on Apr. 25.

Soccer

Eagles blank

Tarboro High

Rosewood's Stephanie Behrend scored two goals and dished out three assists in the Eagles' 7-0 win at home against Tarboro on Wednesday.

Erin Thibodeau added a hat trick (three goals) and one assist as Rosewood (13-1 overall) improved to 5-1 in the Carolina/Eastern Plains 1-A/2-A Conference.

Mary Jo Moore and Mary Catherine Hollowell contributed one goal each for the Eagles, who travel to Spring Creek on April 24.

Tennis

RHS defends

home court

Rosewood took five of six singles matches and cruised to a 7-1 win at home over Ayden-Grifton in Carolina 1-A Conference play on Wednesday.

Ty Johnson, Daniel Ellis, James Cummins, Drew Kriger and Trevor Morris all claimed singles victories for the Eagles, who improved to 8-5 overall and 2-1 in league play. Rosewood's doubles combinations of Cummins-Kriger and Morris-Josh Fail finished off the win. No. 1 doubles was not contested.

The Eagles host North Johnston on April 24.

Rosewood 7

Ayden-Grifton 1

Singles -- No. 1 Ty Johnson (RHS) d. Eric Dendy 7-6 (7-1), 6-4; No. 2 Sam Sutton (AG) d. Daniel Ellis 4-6, 7-6 (7-0), 7-2; No. 3 James Cummins (RHS) d. Matt Allen 6-0, 6-2; No. 4 Drew Kriger (RHS) d. A.J. Hardison 7-5, 6-2; No. 5 Trevor Morris (RHS) d. Lee Weeks 6-0, 6-3; No. 6 A.J. Lewis (AG) d. Josh Fail 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles -- No. 2 Cummins-Kriger (RHS) d. Allen-Hardison; No. 2 Morris-Fail (RHS) d. Weeks-Lewis.

Track

Saints compete

in and out of ECC

LaGRANGE -- In a non-conference meet at North Lenoir on Wednesday, Southern Wayne's boys and girls each claimed five first-place finishes.

Anthony Council (200 meters, 22.27 seconds) and Marcus Oates (long jump, 19 feet, 7 inches) won a pair of individual events and teamed with Randy Faire and Derrick Lathan to take the 800-meter relay (1:32.84). Joseph Davis added a win in the shot put (43-3).

In the girls' meet, Christy Dixon took the 100-meter dash (12.87), long jump (14-1) and triple jump (31-0), while Clarice Sherard claimed the shot put (25-7). Southern Wayne's Brooke Dove, Shonesha Council, Marquette Bizzell and Zakiya Jones won the 400-meter relay (53.36).

On Tuesday at home against Charles B. Aycock and Wilson Hunt, Council claimed the 100 meter (10.9) and high jump (6-1) and teamed to help win the 400 and 800. James Faison (200 meter, 23.81), Marcus Oates (long jump, 20-0), Randy Faire (triple jump, 42-2) and Joseph Davis (shot put, 44-4) also emerged with victories.

Dixon was solid in Tuesday's meet -- winning the 100 (13.2), long jump (16-5) and triple jump (32-2). Ebony Darden (high jump, 4-6) and Clarice Sherard (shot put-26-11) each won individual events.

The 400-meter relay team also claimed an ECC victory.

JV baseball

Saints post

home shutout

DUDLEY -- Scott Holloman delivered a pair of run-scoring doubles in Southern Wayne's 10-0, non-conference victory over Wallace-Rose Hill on Thursday afternoon.

Michael Douglas singled, doubled and drove in a run for the Saints. Robert Herring added two singles and Jordan Williams notched a base hit in the contest, which was shortened to five innings due to the 10-run mercy rule.

Phil Howell threw a complete-game one-hitter for Southern Wayne.

The Saints (4-9) continue play in an Easter tournament at D.H. Conley on Saturday.

JV tennis

Chargers

dealt defeat

WILSON -- The No. 2 doubles of Thomas Yarboro-Kobi Hood seized Wayne Country Day's lone victory in an 8-1 loss against Greenfield School.

Yarboro-Hood defeated the Knights' Bennett Howell-Peters 8-2.

Wayne Country Day fell to 0-2 overall.

Middle schools

Eastern Wayne baseball 17, Mount Olive 1 -- Jose Ponce led the Warriors with three hits, while Josh Carter, Logan Wicks and Greg Simms each had two hits. Ponce, Zachary Beachem and Wicks combined with solid work on the mound. Eastern Wayne (12-1 overall) claimed the Division I championship with a 7-1 mark.

Spring Creek 20, Greenwood 8 -- E. Wilkens and A. Potter scored three times for the Gators. Brooke Smith crossed the plate once for Greenwood.