Aycock drops Wayne County South

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on June 25, 2009 1:46 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Pitching and defense was the name of the game as C.B. Aycock topped Wayne County South 4-0 in American Junior Legion baseball action Wednesday evening.

Aycock pitcher Bryan Stafford stole the show . The lanky left-hander tossed six strong innings, allowed two hits and zero runs. Shortstop Cameron Taylor chipped in eight putouts behind Stafford.

"We have been rolling a little bit lately and pitching has been the key," said Aycock head coach Nelson Cunningham. "Not only have we had some good outings, we have had some guys able to go extended innings and help preserve our relievers."

Aycock claimed an early lead.

Jeff Carmel drew a lead-off walk in the second inning and advanced to second base on Mick Walker's groundout. Justin Barber's groundout pushed Carmel to third and he later scored on a wild pitch. Taylor drew a two-out walk, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a South error.

"That was a really heads-up play by Cameron," said Cunningham. "He kept the play in front of him and made a good call to try to score. That was a big insurance run."

Stafford and reliever Collin DuBose held Wayne County South hitless over the final five innings.

"It's an epidemic right now," said Wayne County South head coach Trae McKee said. "We don't have any confidence at the plate, we are not making adjustments and we are not squaring up any balls right now."

Aycock (16-2 overall) added two additional runs in the fourth inning.

Tyler Ruffin led off with a single and raced to third base when Carmel reached on an error. One pitch later Ruffin scored on a wild pitch. Walker completed the scoring with an RBI single that plated Carmel.

"Any time you win a game with just three hits it says a lot about your pitching and defense," said Cunningham. "We did a good job on both fronts."

Tyler Gainey and Zach Grantham had one hit apiece for Wayne County South, which has lost seven consecutive games.

"We have some guys that are ready to call it a season," said McKee. "You have to give it a good team effort every night and we didn't do that tonight."

Wayne County South (7-10) entertains Wayne County North tonight at 7 p.m. Aycock faces Wayne County North on Friday and continues a homestand with a doubleheader against New Bern on Sunday.