Wayne County Post 11 sweeps Edenton

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on July 23, 2007 1:47 PM

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EDENTON -- Garrett Davis threw seven strong innings and guided Wayne County Post 11 back to the Area I East Division championship series for the first time since 2004 on Sunday afternoon.

The tall right-hander fanned eight Edenton Post 40 batters in a 3-1 victory on the Hicks Field diamond. Wayne County (18-4 overall) claimed its eighth road win in 11 outings and avenged last year's opening-round series loss.

Post 11 opposes South Division rival New Bern Post 24 in the Area I East Division best-of-five title series, which begins Thursday in New Bern.

The winner automatically qualifies for the N.C. American Legion state tournament in Garner.

Edenton managed to hit four balls out of the infield against Davis, who improved to 3-0 on the mound. The North Carolina signee retired the first seven batters before hit Nick Brown hit a ground ball single to center. Derek Thomas got on base with a bad hop single to right, but Davis fanned the next batter to get out of trouble.

Wayne County broke the scoreless tie in the fourth inning.

Jay Rose provided a lead-off single and stole second. One out later, Zack Wright connected on a fly ball that bounced past Edenton's right fielder, and led to an RBI double. Thomas Pilkington supplied an opposite-field single that scored Wright for the 2-0 advantage.

Post 11 added a single run in the sixth.

John Wooten, who had three hits, singled to center and advanced on a bunt by Jay Rose. He moved to third on a grounder and scored on a wild pitch. Wayne County stranded a runner in scoring position in each of the last three innings.

Davis, who threw 72 of his 103 pitches for strikes, went to three balls on one batter. Kirk Wiggins hit a high 3-1 fastball to center for a double to start the seventh. Davis set down the next three batters on a pop-up, a groundball and a strikeout.

Brandon Price earned his second save in relief of Davis.

Edenton avoided the shutout on Kirk Higgins' two-out, ninth-inning home run.

Wayne County 000 201 000 -- 3 8 0

Edenton 000 000 001 -- 1 7 1

Leading hitters -- Wayne County -- John Wooten 3-4; Zack Wright 1-3, RBI; Thomas Pilkington 1-3, RBI; Connor Narron 1-4. Edenton -- Kirk Higgins 3-4, HR, RBI; Beasley 2-4.

IP H R ER BB SO

Wayne County

Davis (W, 3-0) 7 6 0 0 0 8

Price (S, 2) 2 1 1 1 0 2

Edenton

Meekins (L) 7 8 3 3 2 7

Brown 2 0 0 0 0 2

WP -- Meekins 2. PB -- Brown.