Post 11 drops tournament opener

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on August 6, 2008 1:33 PM

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GASTONIA -- Wayne County Post 11, for the second consecutive year, dropped its opening-round game in the 2008 N.C. Senior American Legion state tournament on Tuesday afternoon.

Area III runner-up Rowan County pounded out 19 hits and cruised to a 9-1 victory on the Sims Legion Park diamond. Dropped into the losers' bracket, Wayne County faces tournament host Gastonia at 12:30 p.m. today.

Rowan meets Hope Mills.

In other first-round games, defending state champion Cherryville crushed Wilmington 12-1 in seven innings; Randolph County edged Clayton 7-3 and Hope Mills turned back Gastonia 7-2.

Rowan hurler Tyler Brown permitted five base runners during a seven-inning effort. He threw just 76 pitches and turned the game over the bullpen with a 7-0 lead in his pocket.

"He threw strikes," Post 11 coach Brad Reaves said of Brown.

Trailing 4-0 after 51/2 innings, Wayne County threatened in the sixth. With one out, lead-off batter Tyler Edwards doubled into left field and stayed at second base when Brown walked Walker Gourley.

However John Wooten, who has hit seven home runs in the postseason, grounded into an inning-ending double play. Edwards, Gourley and Wooten -- the team's first three batters in the lineup -- combined for just two hits in 11 at-bats on the day.

Rowan scored single runs in the first and third innings. It added two in the sixth and chased starter Michael Douglas. The right-hander surrendered four runs (three earned) on 10 hits and logged three strikeouts.

Noah Holmes homered against Post 11 reliever Jesse Randolph in the seventh inning. Randolph allowed two additional runs in the eighth. All five runs were earned.

Wayne County (24-7 overall) avoided the shutout on Cambric Moye's solo home run in the seventh. Moye, Edwards, Gourley and Thomas Pilkington each contributed a single in Post 11's lowest offensive output of the season.