Greene Central rallies to beat C.B. Aycock

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on April 14, 2009 1:46 PM

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KINSTON -- Forget the last two meetings because this one is bound to be different.

That was the message Charles B. Aycock head coach Charles Davis and Greene Central skipper Scott Jones tried to communicate to their respective teams before they met in the semifinals of the George Whitfield Invitational on Monday night.

The Rams apparently got the message as they rallied from a 7-3 deficit and held on for an 8-7 win in eight innings at Kinston High School.

Greene Central (10-6) meets West Carteret in the tournament finals at 7 p.m. tonight. Aycock (12-5) faces Kinston in the third-place game at 4 p.m.

Alex Brann led off the top of the eighth with a single to left field off of Golden Falcons' reliever Adron Hollowell. Zack Chase's ground ball out advanced Brann to second base.

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Brann later moved to third on a wild pitch and Wes Sowers' two-out infield single scored Brann and gave the Rams' an 8-7 lead.

"We've played them twice before and our boys have fought hard all year long," Jones said. "Even though we got down we still had a little bit of pitching left. We got big hits when we needed them and got a little bit of help when we needed it too."

Aycock threatened with runners on first and second and one out in the bottom of the eighth. Sowers got Connor Narron to fly out and induced a game-ending ground ball from Jonathan Taylor.

"We've beaten Greene Central twice and I warned our guys about coming out strong," Davis said. "Hopefully this is a big eye opener. If not, we're going to get our tails handed to us some more."

Sowers tossed 41/3 innings of one-run relief and held the Golden Falcons scoreless after the fifth inning. The sophomore scattered four hits and struck out three while not allowing a walk to earn the win.

"Wes did a really good job of stopping their momentum," Jones said. "We definitely didn't want to have to pitch to Narron again but I have confidence in Wes. I just told him to throw his best against (Narron's) best."

Aycock led 7-3 entering the sixth inning before Greene Central erupted for four runs on just two hits. A hit batter and two walks loaded the bases with nobody out.

Stephen McDonald's bloop single to right field scored Trent Murray and sliced the deficit to 7-4. Brann followed with a two-run single to pull the Rams to within 7-6.

David Stallings' sac-fly scored McDonald and tied the ballgame at 7-7.

Will Edgerton's third hit of the night, an infield single in the bottom of the fifth scored Hollowell and extended the Golden Falcons lead to 7-3. Edgerton finished 3-for-3 with an RBI.

Brann collected three hits and two RBI and McDonald (RBI) and Murray each had two hits for the Rams. Ruffin (two RB) and Farmer each had two hits for Aycock.