Aycock's Limbaugh tosses six solid innings

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 3, 2010 11:05 PM

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WINTERVILLE -- Good pitching and defensive pressure pushed Charles B. Aycock into semifinal-round play of the inaugural South Central/D.H. Conley Easter Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

Junior right-hander Derek Limbaugh permitted seven hits in a six-inning stint, and the state-ranked Golden Falcons handled perennial power D.H. Conley 8-3.

C.B. Aycock, which extended its win streak to nine games, faces New Bern at 4:30 p.m. Monday on the Conley diamond.

"I just can't say enough about Derek's performance," said Golden Falcons head coach Charles Davis. "He was able to get his breaking pitch over. He got behind a few hitters, but for the most part, he stayed ahead in the count.

"When he keeps the ball down, you see what happens there."

Limbaugh (2-0) held the Vikings scoreless for five innings. He allowed five base runners during that stretch, but escaped trouble with either an inning-ending strikeout, groundout or flyout.

Conley stranded all five, including two in scoring position.

"We were a little flat today and I thought their pitcher was outstanding," said Vikings head coach Jason Mills. "He carved us up today and that was the story of it. Once he put it to us those first three innings and they punched in a couple of runs ... the way he was throwing it, it was going to be a tough road for us to climb."

Limbaugh lost his shutout bid in the sixth when an error and three consecutive base hits allowed DHC to put two runs on the board. The Vikings added a seventh-inning run off reliever Adron Hollowell, who surrendered two hits, but was also victimized by a defensive error.

Two of DHC's three runs were unearned.

"My only concern, I thought the last two innings defensively we had a little bit of a letdown," said Davis.

The Golden Falcons (13-1 overall) went quietly the first two innings, but broke the scoreless tie in the third. Jonathan Taylor (2-for-4, 2 RBI) led off with a single and moved into scoring position on Jeff Carmel's sacrifice bunt and Travis Musselman's groundout.

Tyler Farmer walked and Connor Narron (2-for-3, 2 RBI) plated Taylor to make it 1-0. An infield error led to Aycock's second run.

Taylor stroked a two-strike, two-RBI double to account for the Golden Falcons' fourth-inning offense. Narron clubbed a solo home run in the fifth, his third of the season, and Tyler Ruffin trotted home on Jordan Quinn's RBI groundout.

Carmel rounded out the scoring with a two-run homer, his first of the season, in the sixth inning. Aycock has a county-leading 13 home runs as a team.

"I didn't think they played great, but their pitcher was very good," said Mills. "They've got a good club and we knew that coming in. Two (Coastal) conference games (last week) puts you a little shy in your pitching, but that's what you've got to do in these (tournaments)."