Aycock rebounds, dismantles Wilson Hunt

By Steve Roush
Published in Sports on March 28, 2007 1:48 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- No one's laughing now.

Coming off a shocking extra-inning loss at Kinston on Friday, the state-ranked Charles B. Aycock baseball team bounced back by drilling visiting Wilson Hunt 11-1 in five innings Tuesday afternoon.

N.C. State-bound Grant Sasser (3-0) gave up just two hits in a complete-game effort and Bradley Taylor, Zack Wright and Connor Narron all homered as the Golden Falcons (6-3 overall, 2-1 Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference) scored nine times in the first two innings against the Warriors (4-8, 1-2 ECC).

Aycock coach Charles Davis said his No. 7-ranked Falcons were embarrassed by Friday's 10-9, eight-inning loss to Kinston, which took a lackluster 2-7 record into the contest.

"There's no ifs, ands or buts -- they were laughing at us Friday when we lost to Kinston," Davis said. "Everyone was laughing at us. It was time for us to get a chip-on-our-shoulder attitude, and they took it upon themselves to step it up a notch."

Sasser got off to a bit of a rough start by allowing a home run to leadoff hitter Blake Jones on the second pitch of the game, but settled down and didn't allow another hit until the top of the fifth with the Falcons up by 10 runs.

"We felt like we had something to prove," said Sasser, who struck out four Warriors and issued just one walk. "We all got together, talked, and saw some things we could do better as a team."

After the leadoff homer, the lefty retired 12 of the next 13 hitters, keeping Hunt off-balance with a good curveball, change-up and cutter to compliment his heater that reaches the high 80s.

"The thing about Grant a lot of times is the longer he goes, the better he gets, and in his last two games I think he showed that," Davis said. "He was pretty much in command today."

After taking an early 1-0 advantage, it took Hunt hurler Matt Watson exactly two hitters to give up the lead for good as Will Edgerton led off with a double and Bradley Taylor cleared the bases with a long home run over the left field fence.

"After the way things went (against Kinston), it felt good to jump on them early," said Taylor, who also walked twice in the contest. "We came ready to play today, everybody did, and that's the result you get when everybody comes ready to play.

"Maybe Friday was the best thing that could have happened to us."

Aycock led 3-1 after an inning, and scored six more times in the second as Wright launched a three-run homer and Narron hit a two-run shot three batters later. The Falcons finished with 11 hits as Joseph Toler went 2-for-2 with a double and scored two runs, Brandon Price was 2-for-2 with two runs, Garrett Davis was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs, and Thomas Pilkington went 1-for-3 with an RBI double.

"The big difference between Friday and today is we came out focused," coach Davis said. "The game of baseball is one where anybody can beat anybody on any given day -- it's not like a lot of sports. In football and basketball, most of the time your bigger, stronger, faster team is going to prevail. Baseball's a game where if the baseball gods shine down on a team, that team can beat anybody. Hopefully, we learned that lesson Friday."

Aycock is back at home today as the Golden Falcons take on Greene Central at 5 p.m.

Wilson Hunt 100 00 -- 1 2 2

Charles B. Aycock 360 2x -- 11 11 0

Leading hitters -- Hunt -- Blake Jones 1-2, HR, RBI, run; Jake Strickland 1-2, 2B. C.B. Aycock -- Will Edgerton 1-2, 2B, run, HBP; Joseph Toler 2-2, 2B, 2 runs, RBI; Connor Narron 1-2, HR, 2 RBIs, run; Zack Wright 1-1, HR, 3 RBIs, walk, HBP, run; Brandon Price 2-2, 2 runs; Bradley Taylor 1-1, HR, 2 RBIs, 2 walks, 2 runs; Garrett Davis 2-3, RBI, 2 runs; Thomas Pilkington 1-3, 2B, RBI.

IP H R ER BB SO

Hunt

Watson 12/3 9 9 9 2 2

Parker 31/2 2 2 2 1 1

C.B. Aycock

Sasser (W, 3-0) 5 2 1 1 1 4

HBP -- Edgerton (by Watson), Wright (by Parker)