Moye's walk helps Warriors stay unbeaten

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 5, 2009 2:00 AM

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Eastern Wayne literally "walked" to preserve its perfect record Saturday afternoon.

Cambric Moye drew a bases-loaded, eighth-inning pass as the No. 5-ranked Warriors upended Greene Central 6-5 at New Hope. Walker Gourley trotted toward the plate, Moye accepted high fives from his teammates and Eastern Wayne continued its best start (11-0 overall) with head coach Jabo Fulghum.

The Warriors claimed their second comeback victory in less than 24 hours. A three-run, sixth-inning outburst propelled Fulghum's club to a triumph over archrival Southern Wayne on Friday.

"We've tried to give it away two days in a row, but the other teams did, too a little bit," said Fulghum. "We haven't played our best baseball the last two days. But we've hung in there, done what it took (to win) and we didn't bow out."

The teams traded three lead changes before the Rams (7-5) forged ahead during their eighth-inning at-bat. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Trent Murray slapped a two-strike outside pitch into deep right field. The extra-base knock gave the visitors a 5-3 advantage.

Warrior reliever Zack Mozingo walked the next batter, but logged an inning-ending strikeout to avoid further damage.

Jose Ponce drew a lead-off walk to start Eastern Wayne's game-winning surge. Mozingo stroked his own two-strike double down the left-field line, which sent Ponce to third base.

"Zack's double was huge for us," said Fulghum.

Zack Chase, the fourth Greene Central pitcher of the day, recorded a foul-tip strikeout and coaxed a pop-up from Hunter Newsome to momentarily silence the rally. Rams coach Scott Jones, whose team benefited from an intentional walk in the seventh inning, opted to put Gourley on first base.

Gourley homered in the first inning.

"John and Walker are two good players, and we just didn't want them to beat us today," said Jones. "We said if someone is going to beat us, we're going to leave it in the hands of the rest of their players. It worked out for them this time."

Chase yielded a run-scoring single to Josh Frederick and plunked John Wooten, which created a 5-5 tie. Moye worked Chase to a 3-1 count and stood silently when the game-ending pitch sailed high over the outside corner. The Warriors spilled onto the field to celebrate the non-conference win.

The teams combined for 15 hits in the extra-inning affair. Seven hurlers combined to throw nearly 300 pitches in breezy and sunny conditions. Chase, in his first mound appearance, took the loss for the Rams and Mozingo grabbed the win for the Warriors.

"I think the last two days we've been a little uptight about the (unbeaten) record," said Fulghum, whose team played its fourth game in a six-day stretch. "We can't worry about the record, but worry about getting better each day. If we do that, then we'll play good baseball."

Eastern Wayne returns to action Tuesday at nemesis J.H. Rose, the reigning state 4-A champion. First pitch is 7 p.m.