The 'old Josh' is back for Warriors

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on May 7, 2010 1:46 PM

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It's been said that two-out hits can get you to heaven.

If that's true Eastern Wayne should be feeling pretty good after it's performance on Thursday night in New Hope.

The top-seeded Warriors scored six runs with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning and claimed an 8-1 win over South Johnston in the semifinals of the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference baseball tournament.

Eastern Wayne (14-9 overall) plays host to county rival Charles B. Aycock on Monday night in the tournament championship. First pitch is 7 p.m.

The Warriors were held to one hit through the first four innings before finally getting their offense going in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Robert Faucette's high fly ball to center field was lost in the lights by Trojans' center fielder Blake Johnson and left fielder Tanner Adams, which allowed Josh Frederick to score. Cambric Moye followed with a run-scoring fielder's choice to give Eastern Wayne a 2-0 lead.

Zack Mozingo's pinch-hit, two-out RBI double in the home half of the sixth extended Eastern Wayne's advantage to 3-0. Colton Fulghum added an RBI single and Moye drew a bases-loaded walk. Zach Beachem tacked on a two-run single and Jose Ponce's RBI single pushed the lead to 8-0.

Fulghum led the offense with two hits and an RBI.

"We scored six runs with two outs," said Warriors' head coach Jabo Fulghum. "A lot of games are won or lost on what you do with two outs."

South Johnston's lone run came on Eric Radford's solo home run in the top of the seventh.

After being limited by a lingering shoulder injury for most of the season, Frederick was sharp in his second consecutive start. The senior left-hander surrendered just two hits and struck out 10 with one walk in six shutout innings.

Frederick tallied a strikeout in each of the six innings he worked. He used a lively fastball and a knee-buckling curveball to keep the Trojans off-balance.

"It's nice to start feeling good again and to be able to throw strikes," said Frederick. "Getting ahead is the main thing. If you get behind it's really hard to come back. Throwing the past two games well like that feels good.

"I know I may not be right at 100 percent, but I'm definitely on the edge of it."