Wayne County rally falls short

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on July 5, 2009 2:00 AM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Edenton provided the offensive fireworks, and Wayne County was forced to watch as Post 40 enjoyed a 7-4, Fourth of July victory in game five of the opening round of the Area I East playoff bracket at Scarborough Field.

Edenton advances to play Rocky Mount in the second round.

After a thrilling 11-inning win in Edenton on Friday night, Wayne County could not muster the same vigorous offensive attack under the Saturday night lights.

"I thought we would swing it a little better than we did tonight," Wayne County head coach Brad Reaves said. "We were flying off the ball early and not putting any pressure on their pitcher and he did a good job keeping our guys off balance."

The visitors jumped on top when Nikolai Simonsen belted the first pitch of the night over the fence in left field.

Edenton tacked on two additional runs in the second inning and broke the game open in the top of the third.

Daniel Oliver led off inning with a single and advanced to second on Weston Dodson's walk. Two batters later Chad Whitehead delivered an RBI single and was followed by Jesse DeSanto's two-run single.

Trailing 7-0, Wayne County (11-9) mounted a comeback attempt in the home half of the sixth inning.

Tyler Edwards drew a leadoff walk and advanced on John Wooten's double. Kevin Wise drove a fly ball to center field that was misplayed by the Edenton defender and allowed both Edwards and Wooten to score.

Wise crossed the plate two batters later on Nick McGee's RBI groundout.

"We dug a whole early and we waited too long to try to climb back in it," Reaves said. "Our relief pitchers really did a good job of doing what I asked, but we couldn't get the big hit we needed."

Wooten manufactured a run in the eighth inning when he reached on an error, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch.

With his lead cut to 7-4, Edenton starter Campbell Brown settled down and halted the potential Post 11 rally. Campbell scattered six hits over nine innings for the complete game victory.

"I really feel like this group of kids is one year away," Reaves said. "I thought we did some good things this season and I am happy with where we have left the program."