Wayne North holds off Northern Nash

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on June 25, 2009 1:46 PM

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Wayne County North erupted for four, third-inning runs and outlasted Northern Nash 6-5 in American Junior Legion play Wednesday evening.

Northern Nash trailed 6-4 entering the top of the seventh inning before Jeremy Lucas' RBI single off Wayne North reliever Logan Wicks trimmed the margin to 6-5.

Hunter Watson later reached on an error and represented the tying run before Wicks struck out Grant Stallings to end the ballgame. Wicks allowed an earned run on two hits, walked one and recorded three strikeouts in two innings of work.

"Logan is growing as a pitcher," said Wayne County North head coach Roger May said. "I was tickled that he bared down there at the end. I was real pleased that we had a little more intensity today."

Wayne North scored single runs in the bottom of the first and second innings before Northern Nash responded in the top of the third. Luke Joyner scored on a Wayne North error and Madison Mayo's single to left scored Steve Williams and tied the game at 2-2.

Wesley Capps' two-run single gave Wayne North a 4-2 lead in the home half of the third. Capps scored on a Northern Nash error on the same play and extended the lead to 5-2. Capps finished 3-for-4 with two RBI. Zach Beachum scored on Wesley Stewart's fielder's choice to extend the lead to 6-2.

Wicks and Beachum each contributed two hits.

"We preached to our kids to hit the fastball and that's what we did," said May. "We had some big hits. Hopefully that will make our kids realize that if they're ready to hit the fastball they'll hit it."

Northern Nash pushed across an unearned run in the top of the fifth and Steven Farmer's RBI single in the sixth cut the deficit to 6-5.

Wayne North starting pitcher Jake May allowed four runs (one earned) on four hits with four strikeouts and three walks over five innings of work. The right-hander earned the win while pitching on three days rest.

"Losing (Zack) Mozingo to Senior Legion put us in a tough spot with a fourth pitcher," said coach May. "Jake is actually throwing off of three days rest. He threw 75 pitches on Saturday and we said we were going to keep him to about 75 today.

"Jake didn't look as sharp as he did Saturday but he kept us in the ballgame and made some things happen."

Wayne County North (6-6 overall) visits Wayne County South today.