C.B. Aycock takes ECC tournament title

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on May 11, 2010 1:47 PM

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Timely hitting, reliable pitching and solid defense.

Charles B. Aycock has played that brand of baseball for most of the season.

Monday evening was no exception.

The Golden Falcons' turned in a well-rounded effort in a 4-2 victory over Eastern Wayne, and captured the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference tournament championship.

Aycock starting pitcher Eric DuBose and reliever Aaron Champion combined to hold the Warriors to two earned runs on five hits. The duo kept pitches primarily down in the strike zone, and Champion induced a rally-killing double-play in the bottom of the fifth inning.

DuBose (6-2) collected the win on the mound. The senior surrendered one earned run on three hits, fanned three Warrior batters and walked two in 41/3 innings of work.

Champion tossed 22/3 innings of one-run relief to get the save.

"DuBose, I couldn't ask for anything better out of him," said Golden Falcons' head coach Charles Davis. "He threw strikes and for the most part he got ahead of hitters. Those two guys are what allowed us to win the ballgame."

Tyler Farmer reached on an error in the top of the first inning and later scored on Tyler Ruffin's sacrifice fly to give Aycock a 1-0 lead.

Golden Falcons' hitters remained patient at the plate throughout the evening while working long counts against Warriors' starting pitcher Zack Mozingo. Mozingo's pitch count eclipsed 75 in the fourth inning.

Tyler Farmer's two-out RBI single in the top of the fourth scored Craig Murdock. Adron Hollowell's bases-loaded walk increased the lead to 3-0.

"Our approaches were much better," said Davis. "We did work the count and we got it in our favor. When we did we were able to put some balls in play. You puts balls in play and you make things happen."

Jose Ponce's RBI single in the bottom of the fourth pulled Eastern Wayne to within 3-1.

Jeff Carmel's RBI single in the top of the fifth put Aycock in front 4-1. Carmel and Farmer both finished with two hits and an RBI.

The Warriors were hurt by a pair of errors.

"We had some opportunities," said Eastern Wayne head coach Jabo Fulghum. "They made some good defensive plays and we didn't. The key tonight was defense."

The Warriors (14-10 overall) picked up a run in the home half of the sixth on Zach Beachem's RBI groundout.

After losing three out of four games, the Golden Falcons (22-4) have won two straight games and will visit Wilson Hunt in the first round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A playoffs on Friday night.

Aycock (22-4) and Hunt split their regular-season series.

"Our guys are ready," said Davis. "Hopefully we've gotten back on the right track. I think the familiarity helps us. We've played each other since 1996. It's going to be a great ballgame."

Eastern Wayne begins defense of its eastern regional championship at home Friday against Nash Central.

"We've got to have a short memory," said Fulghum. "We've got to be ready to play baseball. We're going to bounce back. Our seniors are going to have to take us."